Dirty Little Secret
by Anima Sola 86
Summary: Confused about her no strings attached relationship with Logan, Rory finds herself in somebody else's arms. Can she keep this secret? Special appearance by a lot of Tequila. PDLD.
1. My Dirty Little Secret

_**A/N:** This is set several weeks after the Pulp Friction episode (season 5, episode 17)._

_

* * *

_

**Dirty Little Secret**

**Chapter 1 - My Dirty Little Secret**

Sitting on her bed in her dorm, the light dim, her cell phone lying right beside her, silent as usual, Rory let out a sigh. He hadn't called for days. She had thought he would – after how jealous he had been on the party she appeared to with Robert. It had felt great how he wanted her to dump Robert and how he had seemed to care even more about her the following weeks. But now? They hadn't talked for days and he hadn't even called once. He had just disappeared.

And she couldn't take it anymore.

That's when she got up from bed, shoved her cell into her purse, grabbed the book nearest to her and left the dorm, heading to the Pub, recalling Paris's words she would be there, drowning her sorrow for Doyle who seemed to be the same kind of jerk as Logan. Even though it was hard to imagine, comparing Doyle and Logan.

When she arrived at the Pub, it was already packed – yet she found a place on a couch in the back of the room. Looking around, there was no Paris. Shrugging, Rory got out her book and flipped it open.

"Hey, love", she then heard a voice behind her.

Looking up from her book, she turned around to see –

"Finn."

"Hey", he repeated, a smirk dancing around the corners of his mouth. His eyes were slightly unfocused and his breath smelled of a lot alcohol that he'd seemed to have consumed this evening. He stared at her as if reading her like a book, yet he didn't seem to understand any of it.

She watched him with her eyebrows raised before she looked away again, sighing slightly. "You can't remember my name, right?"

"No, love, that's not true, I just happen to have misplaced it", she heard him say, before she felt how his stumbled over the back of the couch and somehow managed to sit down next to her.

She turned her head to him, slightly annoyed. He just smirked at her, still watching her with a weird amount of interest in his eyes. Rory stared right back, whipping her foot in annoyance.

"It's Rory!", she finally blurted out, when he still didn't seem to get her name.

"Oh I knew that", he said to her surprise, making her furrow her forehead.

"Now I'm impressed", she said, turning away from him and looking down at her book again.

"So I noticed something", he said, while grabbing a drink from a waitress that just passed them.

"And that would be?"

"You're alone."

"Ooh, now the detective woke up again!", she said and rolled her eyes.

"What did I do?", he asked, his voice quieter than before, his accent ringing in her ears.

"What?"

"I'm annoying you."

"That's a statement."

"So you are not saying I'm not annoying you, right?"

"Exactly."

"That was harsh, love", he said, grinning at her while emptying his drink in one gulp.

"That was intended", she muttered.

"Why so tense tonight, love?"

"I am not tense tonight!", she said louder than planned, turning to look at him.

"I can see that", Finn said, winking. "Alrighty, if you change your mind, I'll be right there!"

With that he got up a little clumsy, winked at her once more, before he walked over to the bar, leaving Rory staring after him. All those times she's been with Logan and his friends, Finn included, she never really got behind the façade of this Australian playboy. There were times they talked casually, then there were times when he would ask her if they had met before over and over again and there were times like this. What was he up to? And why was he here and where was Logan?

And that made her think of Logan again. Anger commenced to rise inside her.

"Damn it, Gilmore!", she muttered to herself, slamming her book shut. "No more mourning about this stupid guy! If he doesn't want you, fine! There are others who are better for you anyway!"

With that she got up and walked over to the bar, willing to order a cappuccino, but then decided to take something stronger. This night called for changes, heavy changes! And those changes worked best with something strong. Like –

"Tequila, love?"

Rory turned around again, facing a smirking Finn with a tray full of Tequila shots. She raised an eyebrow and watched him closely. She then sighed and tilted her head.

"Yes."

"Yes?", Finn asked, his eyes wide. "Blimey, that must be a first coming from you!"

"Do I really seem that boring?", she replied, slightly offended.

Finn just grinned at her.

"So what, there's a first time for everything, right?", she continued, also convincing herself.

"Lovely", Finn said, nodding his head towards the corner of the room.

She followed him slowly. They sat down opposite each other, he on a couch, she on an armchair. Between them a small coffee table, already laden by the Tequila shots. Rory watched those little glasses suspiciously.

"Don't worry, love, they won't bite", she heard Finn say.

She looked up at him, a small smile playing around her face.

"So", he then said, sitting up straight, watching her closely. "Before we'll kill the Tequila-virgin in you-" Rory couldn't help raising an eyebrow at that comment "-I'd love to know what drove you here tonight."

"What do you mean?"

"I think you can still understand me", he said with a grin.

"Well, what's wrong with sitting in the Pub –"

"On a Saturday night? I would say a lot when you're coming alone, love."

"I'm not alone."

"No? Well, do you mind introducing me to your imaginary friend?"

She shot him a glare.

"Never mind!"

"I was supposed to meet a friend here."

"Such a splendid coincidence that you met me!", he said, his grin widening.

She shook her head, chuckling lightly.

"So, love, round one?"

"What?"

"You see these little lads down there? They are waiting for you to let them slide down your throat!"

"Finn, gross!", Rory replied, making a face.

"That sounded dirtier than intended", he admitted. "Anyway", he continued, picking up two shots, placing one in Rory's hand. "To Saturday night!" With that he gulped down the liquid.

Rory looked into the tiny glass, before taking a little sip of it. A very warm feeling slid down her throat, making her dizzy right away. Squeezing shut her eyes, she gulped down the rest. "Whoa!", she groaned.

"Well done, love, well done", Finn applauded.

Rory tilted her head, shaking off the dizzy feeling. "So, now that we killed the… um, well, you know, I got a question to you."

"Shoot, love", he said, leaning back.

"What are you doing here all alone, on a Saturday night?"

"You really think I'm here alone?"

"I can't see any date tonight, or friend, or anyone else with you."

"Ooh, right into the middle", he said, putting his hand on his heart. "Well, yes, love, I came alone."

"Why?"

"Hard to imagine, huh?"

"Just answer my question", she said a little impatient. She couldn't help wanting to hear him talk about Logan's whereabouts.

"You really want to know? Well, then, love, what shall I say? Tonight, there was no one able to cope with dear ol' Finn!"

"Meaning?"

"Are we impatient, my god!"

Rory glared at him.

"Alrighty, seemingly, everyone else – except me – got away for the weekend."

"They left you?"

"No, I would say, I left them."

"You're talking in riddles…"

"I am? Hmm, anyway, I mean I was sleeping when Logan and Colin left, maybe they've been trying to wake me, I won't know that, I got –"

Rory stared at Finn, not hearing what he was rambling on about. As soon as she had heard Logan's name, she shut Finn out, finding herself caught inside the same circle of thoughts as before. Where was he? Why did he leave? Why didn't he call? What did she do to deserve such a treatment? What –

"You're alright, love?", Finn's voice snatched through her thoughts.

"Um, what?"

"You looked funny", he said grinning.

"Glad you had fun!", she said, feeling even more annoyed and pissed.

She got up quickly, willing to leave Finn and the Pub and those damn thoughts of Logan. But as soon as she was standing again, she felt how the Tequila raced through her system, making her feel dizzy. She caught the back of the armchair just in time, inhaling sharply. Her gaze wandered around until she caught Finn's.

He watched her, a little concern playing around his eyes.

"I think I'd better go", Rory muttered, looking away again.

"I don't think so", he said, suddenly very close.

She looked around in shock, finding him stand inches away from her.

"We haven't finished our lesson in Tequila drinking yet, love", he said with a smirk.

"Oh I think we have."

"You just had one shot, kitten, that's nothing. And apparently, you have to learn a lot to get better." He watched her, how she still clung onto the back of the armchair.

"Oh no, I've had enough!"

"You sure?"

Rory glared at him, noticing his tanned skin, his messy hair and of all things, the spark inside his eyes. He gave her the feeling that there were other things than Logan in the world to care about.

"Ah, damn it! You're right I'm not!"

"Now I feel better", he chuckled. "Come on, love, ready for round two?"

"Yes, yes I am!"

Before she knew it, the anger about Logan, all the frustration about their current situation, was blown away by several, _countless_ shots of Tequila. Minutes or hours, she actually lost track of the time as well, she found herself sitting next to Finn on the couch, laughing together about jokes she wouldn't normally find funny. It didn't matter, she had fun, with Finn, not with Logan.

When all the tiny glasses stood upside down on the small table, Logan was long forgotten.

"And then I told her, 'love, I really have to –'"

He never came to finish what he wanted to say, for Rory was giggling madly, leaning against him. He shook his head chuckling, putting an arm around her shoulder. As soon as he did so, she raised her head and glared at him.

"Finn!", she said, trying to sound offended.

"Rory!", he replied, mockingly.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing", he said with a smile.

"I can't seem to believe you", she said, her voice as unsteady as it could be, her speech not knowing about that fact.

Finn laughed and pulled her closer to him. Rory didn't protest. Instead she got hold of his hand, examining the nail polish on his fingernails. Staring at his hands, she suddenly grew very quiet, causing Finn to put his hand under her chin so that she would look at him.

"Love, you shouldn't let him put you under like this", he whispered, locking eyes with her.

"What?", she mouthed, staring at him.

"You deserve something better than him", Finn went on, with Rory still looking at him rather puzzled.

She opened her mouth – and closed it again.

Finn watched her.

"Ooh, a staring-contest!", another voice interrupted Rory's speechlessness.

She turned her head around slowly, while Finn dropped his hand and did as she did. They both stared at a rather drunk looking –

"Paris?", Rory asked, staring at her roommate.

"Rory, hi", Paris replied, grinning like mad. "Damn, this night is great! So much to drink and you know what? No Doyle! Isn't that great?"

With that she sat down beside Rory on the couch, neither noticing Finn's arm around Rory's shoulder nor Rory's hand in his.

"Um, Paris, how much did you drink?", Rory asked, trying to focus on the girl next to her.

"Oh, a lot, lost track of counting, but you know what? It helped! I am not –"

Rory never knew what Paris was not - for she collapsed against Rory, snoring loudly shortly after. Rory turned around to Finn who just smirked at her.

"I'm afraid I have to take her to our dorm", Rory whispered, suddenly unable to look into his eyes.

"I'll help you", he said, yet no one of them moved an inch.

After a while, Rory shoved Paris a little aside and turned to Finn, letting go of his hand. He, however, didn't seem to remove his arm from her shoulder.

"I really should go now…"

"As I said, I'll help you…"

"But we have to stand up for that."

"Hmm, true, love."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Are we standing up now?"

"We can try…"

"Alright, let's try!"

With that, Rory got up, pulling Finn with her. They both tumbled a little but as they were leaning against each other, they didn't fall. Rory's arm was suddenly around Finn's waist while Finn's arm was around her neck. They looked at each other and, feeling the alcohol race again through her veins, Rory couldn't help but giggle at how clumsy they both were. They turned around a little, making a funny dance that no one else in the packed Pub seemed to notice, when Rory's gaze fell on the snoring Paris again.

"Oh", she mouthed. "Since when is Paris lying there?"

At that, it was Finn's turn to laugh.

"Hmm, I better bring her to our dorm", Rory said with her tongue growing heavier and heavier.

"You said that before, love", Finn replied, smirking down at her.

"Did I?"

"And as I said before, I'll help you."

"How can you remember all this?", she asked, every word taking ages to get out of her mouth.

"Years of practice, love!", he said, sounding rather proud.

"And still", she said, looking up into his eyes. "You keep forgetting me…"

"I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Well, sometimes, you know, not even Finn is perfect!"

"Oh I noticed that about Finn too!"

"So you noticed Finn?", he asked, grinning widely.

"How can I not notice him?", she said and, the moment it was out, blushed a deep crimson.

He just threw her a smile and moved a little towards the couch.

"I hate to break this lovely moment, kitten, but your friend there is snoring rather loudly and we don't want to disturb the other guests, now, do we?"

She still looked at him, embarrassed and fascinated at the same time. "I guess you're right…"

"So, how will we get her out of here?", Finn asked.

"I… have no idea", Rory said, turning to look at Paris.

They exchanged another glance before they let go of each other, ready to move the sleeping Paris to her dorm. Minutes or hours later, again Rory had lost track of the time during this venture, they both collapsed onto the couch, having brought Paris into her room successfully.

"Alright, love, what next?", Finn announced after they had caught their breath.

Rory looked at him, feeling how her dizziness slowly vanished from her head.

"I don't think we… um, we should do anything else, Finn…"

He watched her very closely, his expression unreadable.

"I mean, um, don't get me wrong, tonight was fun, really fun and –"

There was no and. While stammering, Rory had moved closer to Finn, feeling something make her, somehow urging her to do something against the knot inside her stomach. It was her lips that closed around Finn's. It was her who'd made the first step. And surprisingly it was Finn, who pushed her away again.

There was a smirk playing around the corners of his mouth.

"Now that was astounding, love", he said.

Rory just stared at him, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable. She pressed her hands on her mouth in shock when she realized what she had done. She was about to get up, when his hands closed around hers and dragged her down again, pulling her closer to him so that she was almost sitting on his lap. This time, his lips met hers and it was only a matter of seconds that Rory responded, ignoring the guilt rising inside her. The kiss made her even dizzier than the Tequila she'd consumed just hours ago.

She finally leant back, breathlessly, watching Finn's reaction.

"Aren't you feeling guilty?", she whispered.

"Why should I, love?"

"Logan's your best friend."

"And he's a jerk for treating you like this!"

"So I didn't imagine you saying that…"

"Apparently not, kitten."

"But… I can't do this… right?"

"What's keeping you?"

"Well, I'm somehow going out with Logan, I can't –"

"He's doing the same, love. You shouldn't care about that. Care about this", he said and placed his hand upon her heart. She looked down at her chest, before she met his eyes again.

"But I'm not that kind of girl, Finn", she muttered.

"Don't be. Nobody has to know."

"Nobody has to know? But –"

"I can be your secret…", he said with a smile, taking her hands into his, playing with her fingers.

"My –"

"Your dirty little secret…"

She watched him, feeling his warmth, how his slim fingers caressed her palm, how his eyes made her feel special. She slowly leant even closer to him, sitting on her knees, freeing one hand to play with his hair. Closing her eyes for a second, she considered the future of tonight's events. When she opened her eyes again, she couldn't find a reason why she couldn't do this. Why she couldn't do the same thing Logan used to do, why she couldn't like Finn a little more. Why he couldn't be her –

"Dirty little secret", she mouthed, smiling at him. "Yes, I'd love you to be my dirty little secret!"

With that she leant nearer, if that was even possible, and kissed him again, with him responding immediately. She felt good about this and she knew that it might help her cope with that Logan-situation. And on top of that did she like Finn even more with each minute they spent together.

This was the right thing and why should someone like her, Rory Gilmore, not have some adventures? Adventures nobody would ever know about…

* * *

_**A/N:** Hello to my very first Gilmore Girls fanfiction! After having major uploading problems, I can fnally present you my newest story: _

_Dirty Little Secret, a Rory/Finn fanfiction._

_So, I just hope you like this story and the pairing, just give me a chance!_

_**Disclaimer**: Gilmore Girls belong to ASP, title and chapter titles belong to The All-American Rejects._

_Thank you for reading! Next chapter will be up later this day._


	2. Time Stands Still

**Dirty Little Secret**

**Chapter 2 - Time Stands Still**

A loud bang rang through her dreams. Wait. A bang? Why was there a bang in her dreams? Her lovely dreams she usually had of lovely books and words flying around and there were butterflies and – no, a bang usually wasn't part of that. Rory slowly opened her eyes to stare at the white ceiling of her dorm room. She felt a little dizzy, yet there was a warmth around her that made her feel better. She inhaled slowly and listened hard to hear the noise that woke her.

And indeed. There was the bang again.

She looked around to the door. Was the bang coming from there? She blinked and sighed, when there was no more banging after the last bang. Instead she paid more attention to the hand that lay next to her pillow, seemingly coming from underneath her. She stared at it, noticed the shattered nail polish on the fingernails and frowned. She then slowly turned around to follow the hand to the rest of a body that might be attached to it. It would have been weird to think that there was only a hand lying underneath her pillow, so she assumed there must be a body.

And there was.

A half naked, tanned body. A head that was half hidden by another pillow. The rest was hidden by her sheets. Her sheets. A male body in her bed. Oh dear. She tried to remember last night and then it hit her. _Oh dear!_

She sat up in bed, covering her – oh no, she was naked too – body with the sheets, and looked at the person next to her. She didn't know exactly what to feel in that moment she recognized him. But it wasn't neither guilt nor regret, yet it wasn't total joy as well. But she could say it was a nice feeling, seeing him next to her, seeing him in the morning. Unlike Logan (or Dean for that matter) he had been staying the whole night and she couldn't deny that he looked quite appealing in the morning.

"Hey, love", he muttered, pushing the pillow from his face, looking at her with a tired smirk.

"'Morning, Finn", she smiled, her voice barely audible.

His hair was even messier, his eyes half-closed, and there was a pattern on his cheek from lying face down for a long time. She couldn't help but grin at him, recalling his words from last night. Finn freed his arm from under her pillow and shook it slightly to get the blood circulating again. He than got hold of the sheets that covered her and pulled her towards him. Rory lay down next to him again, cuddling to his side, locking eyes with him.

"We're fine?", he whispered.

"We're fine", she repeated, biting her lip as she examined his face.

"Lovely", he said, rolling onto his back. "What time is it?"

"Um", she said, before looking past him at her night stand. "It's 9 a.m."

"Uh, what an ungodly hour", he muttered, covering his eyes with her arm.

She chuckled at his sleepy voice, recalling one of their first encounters, when he had driven her, Logan, Colin and Stephanie to the place the Life and Death Brigade had met. Yet he sounded much nicer now. She pulled her arm from his face and leant onto it to study his features closely.

"I know I look different when it's dark", she heard him mumble – and when she met his eyes, he was already grinning again.

"Darkness makes everyone appealing, that's not just you", she mocked, grinning back at him.

He sighed playfully, placing a hand on his bare chest. "I'm hurt!"

"I know you are", she whispered and leant forwards to kiss him.

"Ooh, so I'm still your dirty little secret? No regrets yet, love?"

"None yet", she said with a grin. "But you have to promise me to not tell anyone, and I mean, anyone!"

"I won't tell anyone", he replied, looking rather sincere.

"Swear!"

He sat up in bed, put a hand on his heart and saluted with the other. "I hereby solemnly swear to not tell anyone about our little –" He looked at her, trying to read in her eyes what it was between them. "– adventure!"

She sat up also, placing her hand on his. "This is going to be fun", she said, giggling a little.

"I bet", he replied, lowering his other hand to cup her face with it. "I just love how you giggle", he whispered sheepishly. "I always thought you need Tequila for that!"

"I guess you have to learn a lot more about me", she said, leaning against his hand.

"I will", he said and Rory was somehow sure he meant it.

"And will you remember me?"

"Oh love, now really I'm hurt. I thought spending the night with you was proof of that."

"Well, I wouldn't know, you might do this to every girl you meet at the Pub."

"Hmm, you caught me there", he admitted, smirking. "But trust me, love, now I will remember you." He twitched his eyebrows meaningfully.

Rory felt herself blush, before she leant in to him to kiss him. Their arms were soon wrapped around each other, the kiss passionate, wild and breathtaking. Backing away after a while, Rory looked at Finn, panting.

"This is good", she said, biting her lip.

"I know."

"I –"

Suddenly there was a loud bang – a bang Rory remembered having heard before this morning – on her door. In panic she shoved Finn off her bed (who landed noisily on the floor, quickly pulling a pillow with him to cover himself), made sure he couldn't be seen from the door and then sat up straight in bed, pulling the bed sheets tighter around herself.

"What is it?", she called through the door.

"I hate you, Rory!", she heard a voice on the other side.

"What? Paris? What's wrong?", she called again, looking puzzled down to Finn, who knelt beside her bed with his expression unreadable.

"I just hate you! And I wanted to tell you before I'll go to have breakfast!"

The next thing was the slumming of a door. Then there was total silence. Rory got up from bed, dragging the bed sheets with her, walking over the piles of clothes on the floor, before she reached the door and slowly opened it to take a look into the common room. It was empty and there was no sign of Paris. She closed the door again, turning around with a confused look on her face.

Behind the bed, Finn straightened, watching her gathering her clothes from the floor.

"Now that was interesting", he said, sitting down on the bed, the pillow in his lap. "What was that?"

"Paris", Rory simply replied, continuing collecting her clothes. "Too much to explain."

"I see", he said, watching her.

She finally looked up and immediately stared at him in disgust.

"Ooh, Finn! That is gross!", she squeaked, pointing at her pillow on his lap.

"What? Am I supposed to sit on your bed naked?"

"But that's my pillow!", she said and leant in to grab it, throwing it through the room.

Finn raised his eyebrows, when she quickly turned around. She then gathered his clothes from the floor and threw them at him, her face a deep crimson.

"You'd better get dressed, I don't know when Paris is coming back again", she mumbled, quickly getting dressed herself – before she noticed Finn's smirking stare. "Do you mind?"

He chuckled and turned his head away. "Don't be shy, love."

"I need Tequila for that", she muttered.

"I have to say, you did good yesterday. The Tequila-virgin inside you is more than dead!"

"Now that's nice to hear", she said, rolling her eyes, grinning.

"I only say nice things, love", he said, suddenly standing fully dressed next to her as she slipped into her jeans. She jumped at his sudden appearance, yet grinning at him soon after. She finished dressing before she looked up at him, standing right in front of him. Biting her lip again, she closed her eyes for a split-second.

"Oh dear, there's trouble ahead", she whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"If someone, if… Logan, finds out about this, I am doomed. And you're too. We're both doomed."

"Then we'll both go to hell. Isn't that a nice place for a second date?"

"Second date? Ooh, that sounds nice! I mean, not the hell-thing, but the date-part… you really want to go to a date with me?"

"Of course, love", he said, winking. "Don't forget I'm your dirty little secret, I have to do something to keep that title up-to-date."

She laughed and tiptoed in front of him to kiss him quickly.

"Wow, this feels weird", she said, back on her feet.

"What?"

"I mean, we spent one evening, one night together and it feels as if I would know you forever…"

"I might have that effect on women", he smirked. "Yet I was never pushed off beds by any before!"

Rory stared at him in shock. "Oh god, I am so sorry, I'm really sorry, I just panicked and I wasn't thinking and it –"

"Oh never mind, love", he said and put his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. "I kind of liked it. I never experienced any dominance, well that I can remember."

Rory blushed nevertheless.

"Don't worry", he whispered and leant down to kiss her again.

She pulled her arms around his neck, when they both heard a door slum shut.

Rory instinctively let go of Finn and was about to push him away again, but he backed up before, grinning widely.

"I know, I know, behind the bed!", he said in a deep voice, grinning.

Rory chuckled, watching him kneel down beside the bed, before she went to the door and opened it. And there was Paris standing in the middle of the common room, glaring at her.

"I hate you", she merely said.

Rory stared at her, slowly closing the door beside her. "What did I do?"

"Because of you I got very drunk yesterday!"

"Because of me?"

"I told you to come to the Pub but you didn't and so I began drinking by myself."

"And that's my fault?"

"Of course."

"What? Excuse me! You know who brought you here after you collapsed in the Pub, snoring on that couch? I'll tell you, me and –" She stopped herself right in time, but Paris was already suspicious.

"You and who?"

"Me and some other people who had pity with you sleeping in the Pub with your breath strong enough to knock out a bull!"

"Hmm, and I've been wondering who could possibly be able to get me back into my room…", Paris said thoughtfully. "Anyway, I hate you because you had company last night and I didn't!"

Rory's eyes widened. Paris couldn't possibly have heard them or even seen them? "What do you mean?"

"I know that Logan was there over night, I heard you talking to someone this morning."

"Well, um, I'm sorry", Rory stammered, trying hard to hide her relief and yet not to be too concerned about what Paris might have overheard.

"Hmpf!" With that Paris left the dorm again.

Rory stared after her, her forehead furrowed. She was too distracted to hear her dorm room door open and close again. When there were two hands on her shoulders, however, she jumped a little and almost squeaked loudly, if it wasn't for Finn to silence her by kissing her cheek before he hugged her from behind.

"She doesn't know about you", she whispered, feeling him caressing her earlobe.

"Of course not", he muttered between kissing her neck.

"I almost panicked when she said she heard me talking to someone this morning, that she knew I had company. I was really scared, Finn", she went on whispering.

He let go of her and walked around her to face her, putting his hands on each side of her face.

"No one will ever know, love", he said. "Don't be afraid."

"Oh god, I sound so selfish!", she suddenly blurted out. "Don't you think I'm selfish?"

"I don't, why?"

"I mean, I am scared of someone finding about me having this thing with you while I'm kind of going out with Logan and –"

"Kind of, love, kind of."

"What?"

"You are _kind of_ going out with Logan, nothing official, no strings attached."

"You're right! I am stupid to keep this with you secret – I should –"

"Um, love, remember me?", he said with a smirk. "I would still be in huge trouble if Logan finds out. Shagging his potential girlfriend. I mean, you can leave him and me behind, but I'm his best friend and I owe him a lot."

"Oh you tend to show that you owe him", she said, chuckling.

"Anyhow, whatever you do, just think about that."

"You're scared as well?"

"Like hell, love. Logan's stronger than me!"

At that she couldn't help but laugh. It was a relieving laugh and she thanked Finn for that by kissing him.

"You're right, of course you're right. See? I am selfish, totally selfish… I'm a really bad person!"

"No you're not, love", he replied, pulling her into a tight embrace. "You're not more selfish than me."

"What a lovely couple we would make", she said mockingly.

He didn't reply just kissed her forehead, before he let go of her.

"I'll see my little secret later, right?"

"Wait, now I am your little secret?", Rory asked.

"Oh course not, love, I'm all yours", he said, smirking.

He then leant in to her and kissed her quickly, before turning to the door.

"Where are you going? You can't just leave like that!", she called after him.

"Ooh, you're already missing me?"

"No, I meant you can't just walk through that door. People will see you!"

Finn glared at Rory before he broke into a laugh. He shook his head, still chuckling, while he walked past her, winking at her.

"Alright, the window it is", he said. "I kind of love that!"

'Me too', Rory thought while watching him leave her room on this unconventional way. When he was gone, she closed the window behind him and sat down on her bed. Her gaze wandered towards her purse and she felt the urge to tell her mother about this. Just when she reached for her cell, she reconsidered and leant back quickly, shaking her head.

No one should ever know about this except for her and Finn.

Just a day ago, she would never have considered that there could be a 'her and Finn'. Smiling, she dropped her purse and got up, suddenly feeling really hungry.

* * *

_**A/N:** Chapter two of my little fanfiction. I hope you still like Rory/Finn! Tell me what you think._

_**Disclaimer**: Gilmore Girls belong to ASP; titles to The All-American Rejects._

_More chapters are about to come._


	3. Straitjacket Feeling

**Dirty Little Secret**

**Chapter 3 - Straitjacket Feeling**

The day went past without any noticeable incident – apart from Paris's grumpy mood, but that was nothing new. Rory went to the library, walked around the campus looking for a nice place to sit down and read, consuming coffee over coffee – and at the end of the day, she was in her dorm again. Another coffee in her hand, a book in the other, she sat on her bed and read, trying hard to ignore the rising guilt she felt inside. It wasn't exactly guilt, it was a feeling she couldn't name. She felt weird, she wanted to talk to her mother about it but she knew she couldn't. What's the point of having a secret when you talk with someone about it who shouldn't know about it?

She remembered her mother's reaction when she had told her she was going with Robert to a party and not with Logan. It didn't seem as if Lorelai Gilmore approved of that. And just pretend Rory would tell her about Finn, …

Rory sighed and lowered her book, taking a sip of her already cold coffee.

"Uh, gross", she muttered, putting the cup on her night stand.

She closed her book and looked at the place where Finn that been lying on her bed. She recalled the night with him, how free she had felt, how good. Thinking about it, she suddenly felt something else. Fear. What if he already forgot about her? What if she has been a one night stand for him after all? What if –

A knock on the door stroke her thoughts. She jumped up immediately, ignoring the fact that her mind kept telling she was pathetic, and walked quickly to the door. Opening it, she backed up in surprise.

"Hey, Ace", Logan said with a smirk before entering her dorm, walking past her.

"Oh, hey Logan", she said, accepting a kiss from him, still rather shocked, and deep inside, even a little disappointed.

"So, how was your weekend?", he asked, sitting down on the couch in the common room, crossing his arms behind his head.

Rory slowly closed the door, before she walked over to him and sat down beside him.

"It was, um, okay", she said, turning to him.

She must have looked at him rather weird, for he suddenly furrowed his forehead.

"You alright?"

"Of course I'm alright", she blurted out. "Because I haven't been waiting for you to call at all!"

"You – what?"

"Oh come on!", she yelled at him before she got up again, walking into her room. She heard him sigh and then saw his figure in the doorframe.

"Ace", he said, watching her how she sat on her bed, staring out of the window. "I thought there were no strings attached and –"

"Yeah, I know that! But I still expected some proof of life from you the last days!"

"I'm sorry, Ace", he said quietly, walking over to her. "I didn't expect you to be worried about me."

"Well, maybe I am", she whispered, turning to look at him.

He threw her a smile, before he pulled her into a tight hug. "We're good again?", he asked after a while and she couldn't do anything but nod.

She pulled her arms around his neck and let him kiss her, halfway enjoying that he was here again, the rest of her being far away, mostly thinking about someone else. She kept ignoring her mind, telling her that now she has done it, she was that kind of girl. She closed her eyes and leant into the kiss with Logan.

* * *

After Logan was gone later that night, she cuddled into her sheets and stared at the ceiling. She didn't know what to think. This whole situation was so confusing and yet she didn't know why she was so confused. What if the thing with Finn had been just a one night stand? And what if Logan would treat her better now? But what if everything was totally different? She sighed and closed her eyes. Only moments later, she jerked her eyes open again, sitting up in bed, grabbing her cell from her night stand, automatically dialling the number of her mother. She was aware that it was past midnight. But she just had to talk to her mother. 

"Hello?", the tired voice of her mother answered the phone.

"Hey, mom", Rory replied, lying back down again, the cell pressed to her ear.

"Ooh, the lost child is talking to me in my dreams", Lorelai said. "Hey kid, just remembered you haven't called your dear old mother for the whole weekend?"

"Sorry, mom, I just had so much to do", Rory said, slowly.

"Yale is consuming you, huh? Just tell it the next time, 'No, Yale, not this weekend! I have to call my mother!'"

"Sorry I'm calling so late."

"You sound weird, everything alright with you? And what is it with all the apologies?"

"I'm fine and I, I don't know, I just –"

"Speak up, kid, what's wrong?"

"I – everything's fine, Logan's been here before ad everything is just fine. And I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Now that's an answer I can live with", Lorelai said.

Rory had trouble keeping her voice steady, she wanted so desperately to tell her mother about everything that happened the last two days – but she couldn't. So they talked about everything else that was not important. The moment she said goodbye to her mother, Rory felt tears welling up in her eyes. She placed her cell carefully back on the night stand and stared up at the ceiling again. A silent sob emerged from her throat and before she knew it, she fell asleep, crying mercilessly.

* * *

When she woke up again, it was still dark outside. She took a glance at her watch and realized that only three hours had passed. She sat up and rubbed her swollen eyes. She still felt as if there was a heavy weight on her chest, pushing her down. Sighing slightly, Rory got up from bed, slipped into her jeans, pulled over a sweater and walked over to the window, about to open it to inhale the cold night air. 

It was then that she saw the shadow in front of it.

She almost shrieked loudly, but suppressed her shock quickly when she recognized the person standing in front of her window.

"Finn", she mouthed and suddenly everything that troubled her before was gone again. He just made everything so easy.

She opened the window and watched how he climbed into her room.

"Hey, love", he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Do you know how late it is?"

"Yes, it is almost four o'clock, love, is your watch broken?", he smirked, sitting down on her bed.

She watched him silently, leaning against the open window.

"Or are you not available now? I heard from a certain other fellow that he left you sleeping in your bed."

Rory stared at him. "You talk about me?"

"No, Logan talks, a lot, quite annoying sometimes, but he does", Finn told her.

"Hmm, interesting", she muttered, still watching Finn. "And… and you are not mad?"

"Why should I, love? He likes you and if I complain I don't get the chance to get to like you the way he does."

She just smiled at him, walking over to him slowly.

"And I thought you would actually forget about me", she whispered, sitting down next to him.

"I couldn't, love", he said with a wink and pulled an arm around her.

"I just wasn't so sure", she said, leaning against him.

"That's why you cried?", he said quietly.

"I – what?"

"Your eyes, they look as if you have been crying, love", he said, watching her. She looked up at him, puzzled. "Hey, I have several sisters, I am used to girl tears!", he added with a smile.

"Well, I was just confused…"

"Yes, this is new for me as well, love", he replied, kissing her temple.

"It is?"

"Yes, well, what shall I say? I don't usually see the same girl twice", he smirked.

"You are unbelievable", she said, shaking her head, grinning.

"I know, love, I know", he agreed and bent down to kiss her.

She turned to him and pulled her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. They ended up lying on the bed, Rory on top of Finn, her lips playing with his, their tongues wrestling, their hands exploring each other's body. She was just messing with the buttons of his shirt, when they both heard a noise from the common room. Rory immediately stiffened, looking towards the door. Finn rested his hands on her waist, following her glance.

"This whole noise thing will be giving me a heart attack someday, love", he whispered. "How about a change of venue?"

She looked at him and nodded, quickly climbing down from him. He crawled from her bed as well, his shirt halfway unbuttoned, his hair messier than usual, his cheeks red from their wild kissing. She was already standing by the open window, her hair as messy as his, her cheeks even redder. He grinned at her and climbed out at first. Rory shot another glance at her door, before following Finn outside into the dark. She pulled the window shut and listened hard, leaning on the wall next to her window, Finn right beside her.

There was another noise and then Rory's door burst open, an angry Paris standing in the doorframe.

"That was close", she heard Finn whisper.

She merely nodded before looking around into her dark room. The door was still open, but Paris was nowhere to be seen. Rory sighed, shaking her head at her roommate.

"That girl really gives me the creeps", she heard Finn say, when he leant past her to take a look inside as well.

"Yeah, she got that effect on everyone", Rory said, grinning. "I just wonder that's wrong with her now…"

"Don't let her bother you, love", he said, looking at her. "We got other things to do."

He threw her a grin and grabbed her hand, leading her away from her dorm room window onto the dark and empty campus.

"And that would be?"

"Be a little more imaginative, love", he said, pulling her behind a large tree, pinning her to the wood by his body.

"I never liked camping", she said, giggling, when he began to nibble on her earlobe.

"I'm not going to camp with you, kitten", he whispered, moving on to caress her neck.

"Well, that's good", she said, resting her hands on his shoulders, stretching her neck when he began to suck on the side of her neck. "Don't you think we're getting caught?"

"But isn't that the thrill, love, the fear of being caught?"

"It's your ass, anyway", she mocked.

"You like my arse, don't you?"

"Finn!"

"Rory!"

"You're making me blush", she whispered, letting her hands wander through his hair.

"But no one will see that, love."

"Hmm, that's true…", she admitted, giggling, as he kissed the hollow of her throat before he moved back to her mouth, gnawing playfully on her lower lip. She replied his movements by placing her arms around his neck tighter, pressing her lips against his, standing almost completely still, squeezed by his body and the tree in her back. They kissed passionately, their lips closing around each other's, his warmth melting with hers. She leant closer to him, totally absorbed by his presence, entirely lost in the effect he had on her. Finding herself somewhere on the campus, pinned against a tree, embraced by him, she felt safe, very safe.

This was right.

They were so lost into each other, that they couldn't hear the voices moving towards them. Just when Rory leant back to catch her breath, she heard the potential disturbance coming closer. She pressed closer to the tree and pulled Finn with her, holding her breath with her eyes wide, listening closely. He did the same, yet his eyes rested totally calm on hers. The voices grew quieter again and were soon after absorbed by the darkness.

Rory couldn't help but sigh noisily.

Finn grinned at her before he backed up, grabbed her hand and ran with her across the campus, she followed willingly, her mind unable to say anything, her body too shocked to resist. He finally stopped right in front of Rory's favourite library. She looked up at the impressive building before she looked back at Finn.

"Ever snogged between Wilde and Kafka?", he asked, catching her eye.

She raised one eyebrow. "I don't know what surprises me the most, you knowing my favourite place or you knowing Kafka", she said with a wide grin.

"You're really underestimating me, love", he said, trying to look hurt.

She just leant up to kiss him, before she realized how easily they could be seen, right in front of the library. She didn't mind, however, that his hand was still holding hers.

"So, ready to go?"

"What? We can't go in there. It's closed!"

"As if that would stop me, love", he said, winking.

"But –"

No buts, he just dragged her after him, heading to a window near the main entrance.

"No, Finn, we can't! That's not like the dining hall or the kitchen; this is a library full of very valuable and very old books!"

"I'm almost hurt you like books more than me, but I guess that's normal about you", he mocked, squeezing her hand a little.

"I guess you have to get used to that", she replied, smiling up at him.

"But this means that you like me, love", Finn combined, furrowing his forehead playfully. "Not as much as all those books over there, but at least a little." He looked at her. "Right?"

She replied his gaze, smiling mysteriously.

"I'll take that as a yes", he said after a while of watching her, before pulling her into a hug, almost lifting her off the ground by doing so.

She buried her head in his chest, pulling her arms around his waist tightly. It was a miracle how he could mutate from a playboy to a total teddy bear within seconds. She's never experienced anyone with so many different faces. He was incredible.

"I am?"

"What?", she said against his chest, feeling his soft skin on her cheek where his shirt was still unbuttoned.

"You said I'm incredible."

"Oh", she muttered, giggling against him. "I've been thinking loudly…"

"Do that more often, love, I'd love to hear your dirty thoughts", he smirked, kissing her hair.

"I bet", she replied, lifting her head a little to look up at him.

He looked at her, his eyes as calm as the sea, with a small spark inside, announcing the next big wave that could twirl her around without much effort whenever she wasn't expecting it. She was about to lean up to him, when a loud voice called out to them.

"What are you doing here?"

Rory's heart missed a beat, the words totally petrified her – and it was Finn, who dragged her away from the building, holding her hand tightly, running away from whoever had seen them. He stopped after a while, slipping into the dark entrance of another building, pinning her to the wall again, hiding her completely from anyone possibly passing them. She clung onto him, totally out of breath.

"No one's seen us, love", he whispered, tilting his head.

"But –"

"Yes, someone saw two figures making out in front of the library, that's all. No faces, nothing. Just two dark figures. Could have been anyone", he said quietly.

"I really hope you're right."

"Darn, me too", he smirked.

She chuckled at his comment, leaning her head against his chest, her hands still grabbing his shirt tightly.

"So, what next, love?"

"What do you mean; what next? I still have to recover from that last encounter…"

"I guess you have to get used to that, love", he said, grinning.

"Apparently…"

"But I mean it, what are we doing next?"

She looked up at him, her thumbs playing with the buttons of his shirt. She almost fell for his gaze again, if it wasn't for a thought that stroke her with even more impact as the thought of being caught. "Oh dear!", she shrieked and backed away from him. "What time is it?"

He looked at her puzzled, before his gaze wandered towards his watch. "Almost 5.30."

"Oh my god!", she shrieked again, running headlessly away from him, before he finally caught her hand and pulled her towards him again.

"What's wrong, love?"

"I got a class at 8!"

"Darn, you must be popular by the professors! Yet you still have two hours and a half, a lot of time to prepare!"

"But I have to sleep", she whined.

"Sleep's slightly overrated, love", he smirked. "So, do you like a coffee?"

She stared at him with her eyebrows raised.

"You like coffee, I know that."

"No, that's wrong", she said. "I _worship_ coffee!"

He laughed at that and hooked his arm into hers, leading her through the still deserted campus to where the nearest coffee stand was. Of course the place was still empty, but he did as if it wasn't and leant playfully against the imaginary coffee stand, ordering two coffees and even paying the imaginary salesman. She watched him highly amused, how he leant in mid-air. When he walked to her, offering her an imaginary coffee cup, she just laughed at him.

"You know, I prefer real coffee", she chuckled, looking at him as he took a sip from his non-existent coffee.

"Be more imaginative, love", he said again, standing next to her.

"Oh I am, I dream of butterflies", she said and looked up at him with her lower lip pushed forward.

He couldn't help but laugh, laughing so hard he had to hold his sides after a while. Instead of joining him, she merely grabbed his hand and pulled him away again, not stopping until they reached her dorm room window. Rory quickly checked the window, it was still open. After that she turned to Finn, looking at him with a wide smile on her face.

"I don't know if it's too late to say good night, but –", she said, moving closer to him. "Good night, Finn", she mouthed, before she leant in to close her lips around his, kissing him hungrily.

When they broke apart again, Finn watched her with a huge grin. "From now on I'll imagine you with thousand butterflies, jumping over pink clouds and –"

"Don't mock me", she said.

"I wouldn't dare, love", he said and kissed her again. "Maybe I'll dress up as a butterfly when we see each other again", he continued.

"Ooh, now I want to see that!", she said, feeling a wave of joy swimming around in her middle as he mentioned to see her again.

"You will", he said and winked. "Sleep well, love", he added and placed a kiss on her temple. "And try not to snore too loud in class!"

With that he turned around, waving her goodbye as he vanished behind the next corner. Rory, however, climbed through her own window as soon as he was out of sight. The minute her feet touched the floor, an angry voice rang in her ears.

"Where have you been?"

She looked up to see Paris looming inside her doorframe. "What?"

"You heard me, where have you been?"

"Out, _mother_!", she replied, mockingly.

"Don't you have classes? And why do you come trough the window? Lost your key? Do you know what trouble we'll get if one of us looses a key? And just imagine what happens when someone finds it and sneaks into our dorm, robbing us? Sneaking through your underwear? Huh? Imagine that, Rory!"

"I didn't lose my key, Paris."

"Then why did you climb through your window?"

"Why not?"

Paris glared at her. "I called your mother and told her that you weren't in your room."

"You did what?", Rory blurted out, quickly walking to her night stand to snatch her cell, dialling her mother's number.

"Now look who's popular today", Lorelai answered.

"Mom, I am so sorry. She'll never call you again!"

"She had her reasons, I assume. Weird Paris-reasons, but anyhow. Where have you been anyway?"

"Out, I couldn't sleep, so… I walked around campus a little. I didn't know that was such a big deal", she said, also addressing Paris who still stood in her doorframe.

"Well it's your life, hun", Lorelai replied. "Just tell Paris to get a puppy!"

"A puppy?"

"Right, PETA wouldn't approve of that. Just tell her to get somebody else to call in the middle of the night, telling her who's not home or whatever."

"I'll tell her that, mom", Rory said. "Bye!"

"Bye, honey."

"How could you call my mom, Paris?", Rory yelled at her roommate while putting her cell on her night stand again.

"Forgive me for thinking you've been kidnapped! With your window open, and voices in your room long after Logan has been gone –"

"Damn it, Paris, get a life!", she blurted out and stormed to her door, shutting it right into Paris's face.

Groaning mildly as she turned to look at her clock, she decided to stay awake, waiting for the sun to come out. She might even get to breakfast early enough to eat some cocopuffs. She lay down on her bed, her arms crossed under her head, staring at the ceiling. Her mind was about to get its voice back, for it flashed her with various thoughts that she just wanted to ignore.

She just closed her eyes and made a decision made might make everything a lot easier.

She just had to do it. No regrets, no guilt, no thinking, just doing, acting, living. Wasn't it a great feeling to have two boys caring for her, making her feel happy? Who could say that about themselves? She had a dirty little secret and she didn't want to change that. It felt great and it made her feel alive. And that's what she wanted. She didn't want to mourn about a boyfriend neglecting her, she didn't want to cry anymore; she wanted to enjoy this situation.

From now on, she wasn't willing to think about this again. She had thought enough. From now on, she just played along. Living her life.

She couldn't know that living her life the way she did was about to bring her to an edge that might change everything.

* * *

_**A/N:** Due to the fact that I just want to share these chapters with you, I'm uploading another one - can you imagine? Three chapters in one day! You better feel special now! xD_

_**Disclaimer**: GG including Rory, Finn, Logan, Lorelai and Logan belong to ASP, titles as usual to The All-American Rejects._

_Ooh and thank you so much for reading this and thank you loads to **thebigkind** - thanks for being my first reviewer on this, thank you also for the favorite, I feel special, I can tell. I love the fact that you're loving this. So I hope you'll enjoy the upcoming chapters! Thanks again!_

_Also a thank you for everyone reading this and considering to review, I love you all already xD_


	4. It Ends Tonight

**Dirty Little Secret**

**Chapter 4 - It Ends Tonight**

How she had managed to survive all of her classes and not fall from her seat snoring, was a mystery to Rory. Yet when she entered the library to find some reading material for her next classes, she felt terribly tired. Sitting down in a quiet corner, the desk in front of her loaded with several piles of books, she leant back in the chair and sighed quietly. Looking around, she had problems to concentrate. Grabbing a book from the nearest pile, flipping it open in a desperate attempt to get rid of her exhaustion, Rory began reading.

But no words would sink in.

Groaning in frustration, she slammed the book shut again – which caused quite a noise in the silent library.

"Sorry", she mouthed, looking around irritated.

"Don't worry, Ace, you just woke them up again", she heard a voice next to her.

She looked around, smiling as she recognized the blonde coming towards her.

"Hey, Logan."

"Hey, Ace", he said, sitting down opposite her.

"You got lost again?", she smirked.

"Seemingly", he admitted, looking around. "But psst, maybe nobody noticed me!"

She smiled, tilting her head, glad about this little interruption.

"So, Ace, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to read", she said, looking at the book piles in a mixture of frustration and guilt.

"Trying?"

"Can't concentrate that good lately", she admitted.

"Maybe you need a little time-out", he said.

'No, I need sleep', she thought.

"What about we go out tonight?"

'And that's not how I get some sleep!', she thought with a sigh. "Yeah, sure, why not?", she replied instead, smiling at him.

"Alright, I'll pick you up at seven, okay?"

"Okay", she nodded.

"Great. See you then, Ace!"

With that he got up, winked at her and vanished behind the nearest bookshelf. With Logan gone, she turned to her books again, shaking her head barely noticeable.

"And now to you guys", she mumbled, grabbing another book.

At a little after seven, a knock echoed through her dorm. She walked to the door, already dressed for a night with Logan in a nice little dress, her coat and shoes that she soon might regret to have chosen. Opening the door, she saw a smirking Logan on the other side. He came forward immediately, kissing her hello.

"Hey to you too", she said, after he had let go again.

"Ready?", he asked and offered her his arm.

She nodded and hooked into his arm, pulling the door close behind her, before following him along the corridor. They spent a lovely evening together. He brought her to a nice little restaurant, they talked a lot and it felt really good to be with him again – it actually felt as if nothing ever happened between them. After the restaurant, they walked around campus for quite a while, each one having pulled an arm around the other.

"So, Ace, you still need a little sleep?"

"Hmm, actually I think sleep is slightly overrated", she replied with a grin.

"Finn's saying the same", Logan chuckled.

"Is he?", Rory asked, falling silent after that, caught inside her thoughts.

"Yeah, even though he is the one sleeping the whole day after he's been away all night. How he still manages to not get thrown from school, I don't know. Finn's a miracle."

Rory wanted to agree, but remained silent.

"You ok, Ace?"

"Yes, yes, I'm good."

"But you're tired. I'd better bring you back to your dorm."

"No", she said, honestly disagreeing. "I don't mind walking around with you a little more."

"Well, alright, but walking makes me tired, so, what about we find some nice place to relax?"

"Mhm, sounds good", she said, looking at him smiling.

He returned her smile and bent down to kiss her. After that he led her into one of the dorm buildings until Rory realized which room he was taking her to. His dorm. That he shared with Finn and Colin. Oh dear.

Logan opened the door and led Rory into the room – that was packed with people.

"It's just Monday, but they are already partying again", he sighed, closing the door behind them. "Hey, Finn! Colin!", he yelled over the mass of people, until his two friends appeared, each one carrying a beer. "Hey, I told you two, no parties on Mondays, okay?"

"That must have slipped our minds, mate", Finn replied, shrugging, a smirk on his lips. That smirk immediately vanished when he noticed Rory standing next to Logan. She couldn't look at him and stared at her shoes instead, suddenly finding them very interesting.

"Anyhow, you better tell your friends to go now", Logan went on. "Tell them to come back tomorrow", he added with a grin.

"Colin, those are your friends", Finn turned to him. "Tell them to leave!"

"Those are not my friends, I don't know even half of them!"

"Why are they here anyway?"

"How should I know? You kept the door open!"

"I did not!"

"Just tell them to leave, alright?", Logan interrupted Colin and Finn.

"You tell them!"

"Damn it, are you two babies tonight", he addressed his friends, rolling his eyes before turning to the nameless crowd. "Listen up everyone! Party's over. Go find another place to drink!"

A moan went through the mass but one after another turned to leave the dorm of the three boys. After some minutes, the common room was empty again except for Logan, Colin, Finn and an awkward feeling Rory. She'd never expected to be in the same room with her two – how should she call them? Love interest? Secret? She frowned, thinking about it, causing some people to look at her in concern.

"Hey, Ace", she heard Logan address her.

She turned to him and smiled, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Finn and Colin were now sitting on their common room couch, fighting over the remote control.

"You look really tired, you sure you want to stay over?"

"Um, yeah, why not?", she replied, still feeling rather confused by the unexpected situation.

"Hey, do you want to watch Moulin Rouge with us? I want to see Finn cry again!"

"Hey, I was just crying about Ewan McGregor being that small next to Nicole Kidman!"

"Oh I bet you two would nevertheless make a perfect couple", Colin mocked.

"Who? Me and Nicole?"

"No, stupid, you and Ewan!" That earned Colin a hit into the ribs.

"You want to watch Moulin Rouge, Ace?"

"Oh I love Moulin Rouge, but if you don't want to see it, I –"

"No, no, if the lady loves the movie, than we love the movie too", Logan replied, grinning at her, before leading her towards the couch. "Guys, make way!"

Colin and Finn slowly moved towards the end of the couch, letting Rory and Logan sit down as well. Rory felt weird sitting down between Finn and Logan, but a quick glance at Finn signalled her that he felt fine about the fact that she came here with Logan. Even though that didn't make her feel any better. When Colin started the movie and turned off the light, she suddenly felt two hands on her knees.

Her outraged and fearful gaze met Finn who quickly removed his hand, making sure Logan hadn't notice anything. Rory threw one last look at Finn, half sorry, half irritated, but he didn't even reply it. The evening went past with more fights between Colin and Finn, mostly concerning Colin's urge to make Finn cry again and Finn's wish to see some scenes over and over. Rory didn't seem to care about any of this; she just sat on the couch, Logan's arm around her shoulder and watched the tragic love story on screen.

She hoped it would never end that way for her, with Logan being the Duke and Finn being Christian. How would Logan react if he would find out about her and Finn? Would he do anything to stop Finn from getting to her, like the Duke in the movie? And would Finn go crazy over his jealousy and fear of sharing her with someone else? Or would they switch roles and both suffer from jealously and fight each other? And what was her part in that story? Would she die at the end, like Satine?

"Sometimes I wish I could sing like that", she just heard Colin say.

"You don't! Besides, that wouldn't change anything about you, not to say, it would make you even scarier!"

"I am scary? Who said I am scary?"

"Oh I know a lot of girls saying that about you!"

"Who?"

"You know, I can't remember names, Colin!"

"Whatever. I mean, come on, Ewan can do it as well – and he got the girl!"

"He did not, she died!"

"Tragic, isn't it?"

"Indeed."

"Hey, Ace, wake up, the movie's over", she heard Logan's voice from far away.

She slowly looked around, blinking. The TV was blank again and so was the couch, Colin and Finn apparently gone already.

"Should I bring you to your dorm or do you want to stay over?", Logan just asked, jerking her awake immediately. Was he just asking her to stay over night? It happened not really often that she would see him in the morning after spending the night at his place. She just had to agree, no matter what other reasons might wanted her to go to her own dorm.

"I'd love to stay here", she said quietly, smiling at him, before he pulled her closer to him, kissing her and embracing her tightly. She leant her head against his shoulder, pulling her arms around his waist, looking up just in time, to see Finn coming from the bathroom, heading to his room, just wearing boxer shorts. Their gazes met and suddenly Rory felt guilty for lying in Logan's arms – and not in his.

She watched him breaking their gaze and vanishing inside his room. She suddenly felt the urge to follow him, yet she recalled in whose bed she was supposed to sleep tonight. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore her rising feelings for Finn. Just in time for Logan to let go of her. He looked at her with a smile on his face. Grabbing her hand, he led her into his room, only a door away from Finn's.

'Damn it, stop thinking about that!', she thought and followed Logan into his room, telling herself how lucky she should be. When he pulled her into a passionate kiss, she was sure that she would enjoy the night.

It was past midnight when Rory woke up again, feeling herself cuddled against Logan's body. She looked around his room, blinking to get used to the darkness. She carefully removed his arm from her belly and slowly slipped from his embrace. Making sure he was still asleep, she sat on the edge of his bed and grabbed her dress from the floor. Pulling it over quickly, she got up and left his room, heading to the dorm bathroom.

She wasn't expecting it to be lit. She slowly opened the door and looked around. There were the two shower cases, two toilet cabinets and the line of sinks, yet there was no reason why the light was on. That changed when the door opened again and a half naked Finn stood in the door frame.

He stared at her, before a grin broke from his face. She bit her lip and watched him coming closer, closing the door behind him. She couldn't help but notice his muscled chest and the towel wrapped around his waist.

"Hey, love", he said quietly, tilting his head at her worried face.

She continued staring at him, feeling how something rose inside her. It was then that the first tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away and turned towards a sink, letting water run over her shaking hands before she splashed it into her face, bending over the sink. The water deafened her senses for a while, yet when she looked up again, she saw Finn standing right behind her, his face as concerned as she's never seen him before.

She looked at him in the mirror before she couldn't help it anymore. The tears came naturally, her sobbing growing so heavy, her knees too weak to carry her anymore. Rory collapsed on the floor, her face in hands, her crying echoing through the bathroom. She felt Finn's arms around her and how he tried to calm her by whispering to her, even though she couldn't understand a word. She couldn't care about anything but the hot tears running down her face, how her throat was blocked by a huge lump, how her head began to spin wildly and –

Suddenly there was a loud noise and the warmth of Finn's arms was gone. She continued sobbing, unable to see or hear what was going on in the bathroom. Only fragments came to her ears.

"Finn!"

"- not what you think –"

"- hate you –"

"- did nothing –"

"- could you?"

"Logan –"

Pulling her arms around her knees, she leant against the cold wall. Minutes later, the fog behind her eyes lifted and she sobbed for one last time. Lifting her hand to wipe away her tears, she then saw Logan and Finn standing in the doorframe, talking loudly. When she got up slowly, walking to one of the sinks to wash her face, they both turned to her, throwing her worried gazes. Yet it was Logan who addressed her first.

"Ace, you okay?", he said and walked to her to pull her towards him, embracing her tightly.

"I'm… fine…", she mumbled, leaning motionless against him, her hands dangling at her sides.

"Finn said you just broke down crying, what's wrong?", Logan asked, but Rory just stared past him to meet Finn's gaze. He was still standing in the door frame, watching them. His forehead was furrowed and he looked rather uneasy. She wondered how he convinced Logan that there was nothing between them when he had found her and Finn in the bathroom. Yet his eyes wouldn't tell her.

So she looked away again, finally answering Logan's question.

"I just had so much stress the last days, I'm fine now…", her voice grew steadier with every word, adding even more to the lie that was growing in her heart. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this."

"Don't worry, Ace", Logan whispered, before he noticed Finn watching them. "What are you waiting for?"

"I wanted to take a shower, if that's allowed", he said, his voice a little too serious.

"Sure", Logan said and let go of Rory. Taking her hand, he led her out of the bathroom. She followed slowly, her steps insecure. When they went past Finn, she looked up to meet his gaze. His expression was unreadable, a fact that made her feel even worse. She looked away quickly, feeling new tears burning inside her eyes. Logan led her back into his room where they lay down on his bed in silence, he pulled the sheets over them and there was no word ever mentioned again about the incident in the bathroom.

Rory felt horrible. Not even embarrassed that Logan had seen her like that, also frightened about what happened between Logan and Finn that made Finn acting like this. She rolled onto her side, facing Logan's door. This meant another night without sleep.

She lay awake for quite a while, hours passed rather quickly. When it was already getting light again, she looked around at Logan who was snoring lightly, lying on his back. She slipped from the sheets and gathered her things from the ground, before she tiptoed to the door and left. She slipped into her shoes in the common room and pulled over her coat. Opening the door, she left behind the embarrassment and sorrows of last night.

This has been a huge mistake. She knew she wasn't that kind of girl. This was too much. She had to end it. Forget about both of them. Even though it hurt. Her whole life she has been learning from mistakes. After two miserably ended relationships she should have been smarter. How could she have thought she could be that kind of girl that didn't care in whose arms she fell asleep? Her mother had all right to be disappointed in her only daughter. She should have known better.

When she reached her dorm, she quietly unlocked the door and slipped in. She slowly walked to her room, opened the door – and almost let out a shriek.

There was someone lying in her bed.

She quickly closed the door to not wake Paris. Just standing by the door, she stared at her bed, before she switched on the light. There was a deep groan as soon as the room was illuminated. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched how a messy dark haired head emerged from her pillows, sleepy eyes blinking at her.

"What are you doing here?", she asked, her voice barely audible. She didn't know whether to be shocked or happy, yet she tended to choose the first one for she had been sure that she wanted to forget about all of this. But when she looked into his eyes, she wasn't sure anymore.

He sat up on her bed, his chest bare and apparently he was just wearing boxers.

"Finn, I don't know what to think", she muttered, still standing at the door. "Back there, you seemed to ignore me and now you're lying in my bed – hang on, how did you come into my bed?"

"I lay down, love", he said, tilting his head.

She continued to stare at him.

"Paris let me in."

"What??", she blurted out, gaping at him. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her it was a surprise and I kept bugging her until she let me in."

Rory eyed him suspiciously.

"I promised, I haven't told her anything!"

"But it's Paris we're talking about. She'll know!"

She felt the lump inside her throat growing again. Leaning against the door, she buried her face in her hands, once again overwhelmed by self-pity, sorrow, guilt and the heaviness of this new situation.

"Oh love", she heard Finn whisper when he got off the bed and walked over to her, pulling her into a tight embrace. She leant her head against his bare chest, feeling his warm skin, wrapping her arms around him, just wanting him to hold her.

"I can't do this, Finn", she muttered against his chest but he just shook his head, kissed her hair and held her even closer.

They seemed to stand like that for a very long time, before Finn finally let go of her. She looked up at him, her blue eyes clouded by tears. He raised a hand and cupped her face, wiping the tears away with his thumb. That was the moment she finally made her choice. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"This was a terrible night", she then broke the silence.

"Indeed", he nodded, leading her to the bed and taking off her coat.

They sat down next to each other, Finn's arm around her waist, Rory's fingers hooked into his.

"I just want to forget about it", Rory went on.

"What else do you want, love?"

She turned her head to look directly into his eyes, suddenly noticing how blue his eyes were. She never knew he had blue eyes - for the most time she had seen him was during parties and other night time encounters. She got lost inside the grey mixing with the blue, both keeping her rather hypnotised.

Without really knowing about it, three words slipped her mouth.

"I want you."

* * *

_**A/N:** Alright, due to the fact that I already got 7 reviews and was even added to a C2 (damn, there are really that many Finn/Rory stories? I only knew the PDLD-C2 and there weren't as many... wow, this is so cool, now my story is one of them! Thank you!), here is chapter 4!_

_Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing, I love you all, this is so cool! I feel really flattered that you seem to enjoy this story!_

_**Disclaimer**: Gilmore Girls belong to ASP, titles to The All-American Rejects, Moulin Rouge to Baz Luhrmann, Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman to themselves._

_THANK YOU! Read on! _


	5. Kiss Yourself Goodnight

**Dirty Little Secret**

**Chapter 5 - Kiss Yourself Goodnight**

"I want you."

Rory's words floated a while between her and Finn, while she still examined his eyes. She wasn't aware about what she had said until Finn broke into a wide smile. She frowned, before her words sunk in at last.

She blinked and felt her cheeks redden.

"You sure, love?", he asked, tilting his head.

"I think I am", she whispered, throwing him a shy smile before looking away again.

He watched her, a weird expression on his face that could easily be misunderstood as arrogance, but of the corner of her eye she could see that he was glad and proud that she had chosen him over his best friend Logan. At least she thought she had. Her fingers just hooked into his again, when he let go of her and stood up from the bed. She looked up, more than puzzled.

"I knew this night – or morning – might offer a reason to celebrate", he said and bent down to get something from behind the bed.

"Celebrate?", she asked, watching him.

"Yes, love", he replied, finally getting up again, hiding his hands behind his back.

"So?"

"So, here we go, love", he said with a smirk, revealing what he brought to celebrate. "The drink that brought us together!"

She couldn't help but grin at him, looking at the Tequila bottle in his hands.

"But before we kill your Tequila-virgin once again – and I know that's not possible, but anyhow, we have to talk", he said, sitting down beside her again, facing her.

"Talk?"

"Yes, my dear monosyllabic girl", he grinned. She just tilted her head, watching him with a spark in her eyes that could either interpreted as fear or impatience. Finn chose the latter. "Talk, yes, THE talk, love", he continued, locking eyes with her.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, I am not the person to be believed to talk THE talk, but, just pretend I am", he added, noticing the sceptic look on her face. "Anyhow, love, I just want to know where we stand."

"We're sitting, Finn", she suggested.

"Oh, clever girl, now I understand why you're going to Yale", he grinned.

"And I'm still wondering why you are here as well", she mocked.

"Now that hurt, love", he said, hiding a smirk. "As I was saying, where are we, Rory? Am I still your dirty little secret?"

"Of course you are", she replied, watching him.

"And nothing… more?"

His worry made her smile at him. She never expected him to be that … cute. "Well, we still can't tell anyone about this, you know that. Logan would push you off a bridge, my mother wouldn't approve of it either, and –"

"Wait. Paris already knows, remember. At least she's assuming something. And Logan won't ask again –"

"What? What do you mean he won't ask again? Is this what you two talked about in your dorm bathroom?"

"Yes, love. I gave him my word that I would never ever even think about making out with you –"

"You are such a liar, Finn!", she chuckled.

"I know – and unlike Colin I'm pretty good at it too", he replied, grinning. "So I told Logan that, and he, as my best friend, believes me."

"But you know, if this ever comes out, you are as good as dead."

"I know that, love", he whispered, a tiny amount of concern in his voice.

"And you still want to do this? Be my secret?"

"Of course, love, never assume anything else!", he said and leant his head against her shoulder, which looked rather silly for him being more than a head taller than her. She chuckled and put a hand on his cheek, before leaning in to kiss him. He pulled his arms around her and soon she was sitting on his lap, her legs wrapped around his waist, her hands holding his face, falling more and more for his charm. Just as they kissed wildly with their lips sucking on each other's, a loud rumble echoed through the room – making them both growing rigid.

Rory looked around the room and let out a sigh as she saw the Tequila bottle lying on the floor, luckily still in one piece. She glanced back at Finn who just grinned and was about to lean into the kiss again – when suddenly her dorm room door burst open.

"Hands in the air!", Paris's loud voice rang through the room, causing Rory to jump and Finn to instinctively raise his hands over his head.

"Paris!", Rory blurted out, staring at her roommate in rage. "Ever heard about knocking?"

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you think, Paris?"

"I told you to warn me, Rory!"

"I thought you knew I had a visitor."

"I didn't expect … this", Paris said, her voice sounding rather disgusted. "And what was that noise? Do you hit each other while –"

"Paris, gross!", Rory said outraged, before pointing at the floor for Paris to see the bottle.

Paris raised an eyebrow and looked from the bottle to Finn, who was about to lower his hands but raised them once again as he noticed Paris's glare. A smirk was playing around his lips.

"Anyway, keep it down, will you? My night's already been short", she said grumbling.

"Paris, wait", Rory held her back.

"What? I don't want to watch you if that's what you are about to ask."

"Um, _no_! I just wanted to ask you a favour."

"What?"

"Please don't tell anyone about this."

"Why not?"

"Because then you might be involved in a lot of blood shed, not to mention that you might get a new roommate."

Paris stared at Rory, before she shrugged and turned around. "Fine." With that she slummed the door shut behind her again.

Rory turned to Finn, who sighed loudly. "Darn, I thought she would kill me right away", he said, lowering his hands.

Rory laughed at him and playfully caressed his cheek. "I would have protected you, poor Finny-poo", she said as if talking to a baby.

He grinned and quickly kissed her. "But you have to admit, love, that girl is scary!"

"I never said the opposite", she agreed. "But you can be sure that she won't tell anyone. She might even forget about it. Hmm, but we shouldn't put her into a room alone with Logan, if she is mad at someone – and she is always mad at Logan – then she might use this against him – and then we are doomed!"

"Alright, keep those two away from each other, then", he said, pulling her closer to him. "One problem solved, love", he added, kissing the corner of her mouth.

"Many other still remaining", she finished, looking a little sad. "Finn, I –"

"What is it, darling?"

"Don't get me wrong, I feel that everything is right when I'm with you, but the moment we part… you know, um, I don't know… I have doubts this is really what I want."

"And I thought we'd already declared what you want", he said, leaning closer to breathe against her neck before kissing it gently.

She closed her eyes and just enjoyed the warmth of his lips for a while, before she pushed him away as gentle as she could, locking eyes with him.

"Yeah, I know that I want this, this with you, but –"

He cupped her face with his hands, his eyes hypnotising her.

"But I don't know if I'm the person to do this…", she continued.

"What do you mean?", he breathed against her lips.

"I told you, I am not that kind of girl…"

"You'll never be that kind of girl, love", he then said, their noses already touching.

"What?", she breathed.

"You are not like every other girl, you are special, darling, you won't be one of many."

"Aww, Finn!", she mouthed and kissed him. "That was sweet and I wonder why I never expected you to say something like that!"

A grin broke from his face. "You really have to get to know me better, love!"

"That's what I'm planning to do", she whispered, grinning at him before she leant in to an even deeper kiss, her arms around his neck, her fingers playing with his hair.

"Not that I'm complaining about the service in your humble home", he interrupted her longing kiss. "But we're neglecting our little mate down there!"

She just laughed and bent down to grab the Tequila bottle. Shoving it into Finn's hands, she watched how he welcomed the bottle in their middle.

"Well, hello there, little lad, how are you? Ready to be drunk?", he said with a grin and opened the bottle to take a large gulp from it.

Rory stared at him in awe. "I'm always wondering how you do that…"

"Well, let me show you", he said, smirking, lifting the bottle to her lips. "You move your lips to that gap up here, you raise the bottle" – he did so – "and you drink! Very easy!"

She took a sip, before she leant back coughing, almost spilling the valuable liquid. Holding her throat, she blinked at Finn. "Damn, I can't remember that burning…", she said with a hoarse voice, causing Finn to laugh.

"You'll get used to it, love", he winked at her and took another gulp without even blinking. She made a face just watching him. "Come on, celebrate, darling!", he added, looking at her smirking. "Here's to us!", he said and took yet another gulp, before handing the bottle to her.

"I don't know if I should applaud you or throw up…"

"I think you should applaud me", he said, stretching slightly. "Throwing up is a bad business!", he added, stressing the word bad with his forehead furrowed.

She grinned at him and lifted the bottle to her lips again, yet taking only a little sip.

"Alright, the woman that calls me her dirty little secret cannot drink Tequila, I am disappointed", he said, grinning, yet acting as if being hurt. "We need glasses!"

When he got up, she could see that the alcohol had already settled in his system.

"But I don't have any glasses here, Finn", she told him, watching him rummage through her room.

"Oh, found something!", he said after a while holding up two Yale coffee mugs.

"But those are mugs, Finn, we can't drink Tequila from mugs! That's like… like… drinking coffee from buckets!"

"As if you would mind, darling, my little coffee addict", he smirked and cuddled next to her on the bed, holding out the coffee mugs for her to fill. She lifted the Tequila bottle to the mugs and filled them both half, emptying the bottle entirely. "Oh dear, they should do more inside those bottles", he giggled.

"And look how poor this little fellow looks right now, all empty and see-through…", Rory looked at the bottle, already feeling the alcohol in her veins.

"We should adopt it, make it our mascot!", Finn added.

"Of course first, we must be married!"

"Naturally, darling! I'm very old-fashioned!"

"Oh Finn!"

"Oh buttercup!", he said, tilting his head to look at her with a major sigh on his lips.

She giggled at him and took a mug from his hands.

"To us, love", he said, lifting his mug into the air.

She lifted her mug in the air as well, locking eyes with him. "To us…"

Finn emptied the mug in one big gulp, making Rory stare at him with her mouth open. He noticed her stare and smirked. "Come on, I know you can do the same!"

She frowned and looked down into her own mug. Swallowing hard, she lifted it to her lips and drank – and drank. While gulping down the last sips, she made a face as if she was about to throw up but then lowered the mug and brushed the back of her hand over her mouth. Finn glared at her as if he just found out that weekends have been extended.

"My, I am so proud of you, love!", he sang, pulling Rory into a bone-breaking hug. She laughed and let him pull her, lying on top of him, her head on his chest. In a moment when there was a small gap in the fog that clouded her vision, she looked at the clock on her night stand.

"Oh look, we've missed breakfast", she giggled.

"Don't worry, I can't remember being there once in my life, love!"

"No way!"

"Yes!"

She just giggled and snuggled against him, feeling how the alcohol rushed through her blood.

"You know that you are very, very, _very_ bad for me, Finn?"

"I assume, love."

"I mean, I've never drank in the morning, this is a first for me!"

"Another virgin killed, I am so good!", he grinned.

She laughed and kissed his chest, feeling his heart beat right against her lips.

"Rory?", she heard him ask, his voice unnaturally calm.

She looked up, putting her chin on his chest. "Finn?", she replied in a mockingly deep voice.

He had his arms crossed behind his head and looked at her. "It's too bright", he then said, making her giggle even harder.

She sat up on top of him and quickly climbed off the bed, walking slowly over to the window (the Tequila messing with her system) and pulling her curtains over the windows. It was still a little light inside the room, for it was almost noon, yet the darker light made her feel even better about the young man in her bed and the fact that she had already missed several classes. As she climbed into the bed again, she lay down beside Finn, her index finger drawing lines on his chest.

"Do you want to wear this dress all day long, love?"

She looked down at herself, noticing the dress she had been wearing last night at the date with Logan. Under other circumstances that memory would have caused her to think and feel bad again, but with half a bottle of Tequila inside her, she couldn't care less. She sat up and pulled the dress over her head, before lying down beside Finn again.

He rolled onto his side to face her. And it was Rory who moved close to him, closing her lips around his, her arms around his neck. They kissed passionately, Finn's hands messing with her hair, Rory's hands holding onto his shoulder blades, her fingernails scraping gently over his skin. He rolled over her and pinned her to the bed, using his arms as support, while jerking his neck a little to kiss her, his tongue fighting with hers.

Her arms were still around his neck, her fingernails drawing lines on his back. She pulled him closer so that he laid on his elbows, kissing her eagerly, before one of his hands wandered down her body, his fingers causing jolts of electricity to run through her veins. She breathed against his lips, being totally absorbed by him. Closing her eyes, she fell into the dimness of her room, for the warmth of his body and his gentle touch that made her shiver.

While she forgot about everything, the life outside her window blossomed, students running around, talking, laughing, hurrying, learning, living.

Rory and Finn couldn't care less.

* * *

Rory woke up several hours later, cuddled against Finn's chest, his arm holding her tightly, the bed sheets holding her warm where his skin wasn't touching hers. She inhaled his scent deeply, opening her eyes slowly. Her room was still dim, so she couldn't tell what time of day it was. She still felt a little dizzy due to consuming Tequila in the morning and her lack of sleep, yet there was something inside her stomach that felt good, that made her smile.

"Still smiling, love?", she heard Finn mumbling.

She looked up at him and smiled even wider, leaning closer to kiss him. Looking quickly past him at the clock on her night stand, she leant back, shaking her head. It had finally sunk in how much time she had wasted today – even though it didn't feel like a waste. Yet she had missed at least three classes plus breakfast and lunch. It was almost three o'clock when she sat up and pulled the bed sheets around her. Looking down at Finn, she noticed that he had fallen asleep again, breathing deeply.

She sat on her bed, watching him, and smiled. She didn't know why, it just felt right. Rory got up after a while, leaving him the bed sheets and quickly gathering some clothes from her closet to slip into. She threw a last glance at the sleeping form of Finn, before she quietly left her room. Once she was outside her dorm, she headed straight to the next coffee stand, ordering a large coffee cup. She just turned around, taking the first sip, when she saw Logan standing right behind her.

"Oh", she said, almost spilling her beloved coffee. "Hey, Logan."

"Are you feeling better?", he asked and it felt like a stab of a knife.

She merely nodded and walked away from the line in front of the coffee stand. When she reached the corner, she felt his hand on her shoulder. She turned around again to face him.

"Logan, I'm okay. And I thought you would forget about yesterday", she added, avoiding his gaze.

"I just wanted to make sure, Ace", he said. "Where have you been today?"

"What do you mean?"

"I missed you at lunch."

"You did? Well, I wasn't hungry. To be honest I hadn't even had breakfast, I was in bed all day", she said, telling the truth. "I haven't felt well…" she added, creating another lie.

He watched her, so she added quickly: "But I told you, I'm fine again. I had my coffee, now I'm good!" She smiled at him.

"I'm glad", she heard him whisper, as he leant closer to grab her hand – pulling her across the street.

"Logan!"

He quickly stopped and pushed her into a small entrance area, pinning her against the wall. "Hi Ace", he said with a smirk.

"Hey", she whispered, watching him closely, her skin tingling.

He then leant in to kiss her rather hungrily. She leant back after a while to catch her breath.

"Ooh, Huntzberger, you did miss me", she said quietly, grinning at him.

With that he dragged her along until they stood right in front of her dorm room. It was then that she had the weird feeling that something bad was about to happen. What if Finn was still lying in her bed? Logan just kissed her neck, shoving her slowly against her door, when she pushed him away gently.

"Sorry, Logan, I can't", she said.

"What, you didn't clean your room?"

'_Sort of'_, she thought.

"I don't care, Ace", he went on. "I like it messy!"

"Oh I know that", she said, mockingly. "But I can't, because –" _'Give me a reason!'_ "Because Paris is there!"

"I don't care about her either, Ace!"

'_Damn it!'_

"And I have classes this afternoon."

"You do? But you missed your other classes as well, when you stayed in bed the whole day, why don't you miss the whole day?"

"I can't, you know that!", she said, looking at him pleading.

"When's your first class?"

"Later… I don't know exactly, I have to check that. There's – there's been a change. I don't know the new times yet."

Logan raised an eyebrow but didn't ask any further.

"I'll go check it, wait right here!" With that she slipped inside her dorm, sighing as she closed the door behind her. She quickly walked over to her room and opened the door.

Something inside her cracked as she saw Finn still lying in her bed. She bit her lip and walked over to him.

"Finn?", she whispered. "Finn! Wake up!"

He didn't move. She bent closer to check his breathing. Normal. Slow and quiet, but normal.

"Finn!", she pleaded, shaking him by the shoulders. "Please wake up!"

"Ace?", she heard Logan's voice from the common room.

"Oh no", she mouthed, quickly getting up and walking to the door. "Oh no…"

She opened the door and quickly slipped through it, making it impossible for Logan to look inside her room.

"You checked?"

"Yes, yes, I did, and I'm already late", she said, her heart pounding against her chest in panic. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, maybe later?"

"I –" She bit her lip. "I don't know, Logan. I really need this night to sleep", she said, suddenly very much aware of the fact that she tried to avoid Logan. What drove her? She liked him. But apparently she liked somebody else a little bit more.

"Fine", he said and kissed her a quick goodbye. "See you then, Ace!"

Did she just disappoint Logan Huntzberger, the one that drove her into this weird situation in the first place? The one who neglected her? She smiled from the inside as he left her dorm. She did as he did. They were even. She didn't even feel guilty anymore. When she turned around to go back into her dorm, she even felt good about disappointing Logan. How evil she'd become.

Closing her room door behind her, she knelt down next to Finn again, touching his arm gently. Still there was no movement.

"Finn?", she said again. "Finn!"

She shook him again but there wasn't even a groan from him. What was wrong with him? He hadn't drunk as much as she has, this couldn't be a normal hangover. Yet she didn't know what else he did the last night.

"Finn, damn it, wake up!"

Suddenly she panicked. She leant back in shock, before checking his breath. He was breathing, right? Or was she just imagining it? But why shouldn't he not breathe? He was fine. He was fine when she had left him, not just an hour ago. What happened in that time? Did Paris kill him after all? But why would she do that? Rory checked Finn's pulse and again she was questioning its liability. Her breath grew quicker, her hands began to shake.

"Finn? Oh god, please, wake up!"

She leant back again, closing her eyes, trying to breathe normally.

It was then that she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up in shock and was about to scream – when she saw Finn look at her.

"You alright, love?", he asked, stretching his limbs.

"If I'm alright? I thought you were dead!"

"Dead?", he frowned.

"You wouldn't respond to my calling your name and shaking you and such and I was really afraid –"

"Oh love", he said with a smirk, and climbed off the bed to sit down next to her on the floor, pulling the sheets behind him to cover them both. "I told you once I'm asleep, nothing can wake me. I'm sorry, love", he added and placed a kiss on her temple.

"But – but you were awake just an hour ago!"

"I know, but as soon as I hit my REM state, nothing can wake me, love", he said with a smirk, noticing her furrowed forehead. "You know, I missed very much in my life because of that. I'm glad you're still here!"

"Well, this is my room", she said. "And guess what, I had trouble fighting Logan off."

Finn's smirk immediately vanished. "Logan?"

"He found me at the coffee stand and we somehow came back here, but I quickly enough remembered that you might still be lying here. Just imagine how that could have ended!"

"Well, I wouldn't have noticed, love", he grinned, even though a little forced. "Murdered in my sleep, that's a nice way to die!"

She just threw him a glare.

"I'm sorry, love", he whispered and kissed her cheek. No more bloody jokes from me now."

Rory leant back against her bed and sighed.

"So you told him –"

"I told him I had classes, which is not true at all and I really hope he doesn't find out."

"You lied to dear Logan?"

"Yes, what else should I have done? Lead him right here, shoving you off the bed so we had some space?"

"You would do that?"

"Of course not!"

"Relax, love, he won't find out."

"At least not that you were here…"

"He doesn't care", Finn said, causing Rory to look at him in surprise. "I mean, yes, he likes you – but he also likes, um, what are their names, Kimberly, Sophie, Julia and I-can't-remember-her-name. So what I want to tell you, darling, he is much worse than you. Next week there might be Susan, Cindy and Clair or whoever else he'll pick up. You might shag his best friend, but he is shagging half Yale."

Rory looked away in disgust.

She didn't want to be one of many. She wanted to be special. Just like Finn had said. She lowered her head and stared at her feet. She then felt Finn's arm around her.

"I don't know if it makes you feel better when I'm telling you that you still have me, love, so…"

Rory smiled at her feet. "It does, Finn", she said and looked up.

She met his gaze and quickly leant in to a passionate kiss. He then got up and gathered his clothes, slipping into them, before he knelt down beside Rory again. He closed his lips around hers, while his hands wandered down her arms to the pockets of her coat.

"Hey", she said against his lips, when he pulled out her cell phone. She watched him, flipping it open and quickly putting down some number. "What are you doing?"

"I'm leaving you my number, love", he said, his tongue sticking out between his lips while his thumbs flew over the small keyboard.

"But –"

"Don't worry, love, whenever you feel sad or just want a little private party, dial this number and –" He gave her back her phone, still open, with a name and a number on the display. "Felicity might help you."

Rory giggled in surprise. "Felicity?"

"Couldn't think of another girl name starting with an F", he said, shrugging.

She just leant in to kiss him. "Thank you, Felicity!", she giggled.

"You're welcome, love", he kissed her again before getting up, his hands deep in the pockets of his coat.

Rory got up as well, watching him walking over to the window.

"Finn?", she asked, holding him back.

"Yes, love?", he turned around.

"I'm going to dump Logan", she simply stated, convincing herself by speaking the words that had been in her head for a while now.

He grinned at her. "I feel special", he said, walking back to her to kiss her goodbye.

She watched how he climbed out of the window, vanishing around the corner, winking at her. She flipped shut her cell and slowly closed her window.

A smile on her face, a bad knot inside her stomach.

* * *

_**A/N:** Chapter 5 - and guess what? There's just another chapter waiting for you until I'm running out of chapters xD  
Due to that uploading problem I gathered 6 chapters to this story. So, yeah, have fun with the fifth, tomorrow there'll be another one!_

_And again, WOW. I am so overwhelmed by the amount of people reading and reviewing - this is the first day the story is online and already 15 reviews and more than 1000 hits... amazing, I'd never expected anything like it. So... THANK YOU EVERYONE SO MUCH! Thanks!_

_**Disclaimer**: GG belong to ASP, titles to AAR._


	6. Stab My Back

**Dirty Little Secret**

**Chapter 6 - Stab My Back**

Her plan on dumping Logan was harder than Rory had imagined.

After she had spent the rest of the day sleeping, she got up the next morning, taking a long, hot shower, gathering some clothes, getting dressed and finally walking over to have breakfast, stopping by a coffee stand on the way. Ordering the largest cup, she then headed to the dining hall, getting a bowl of cornflakes and sat down at an empty table.

Drinking her coffee, she already felt better, having slept more than just a couple of hours. For what she was planning to do, she needed even the tiniest bit of extra strength. After breakfast, she quickly walked to the offices of her professors, apologizing for having missed their classes. Other students might have given a damn about that, but Rory had to know whether her professors had noticed her missing. They had, but they didn't mind, knowing Rory as a student who didn't usually miss classes.

After that, she walked over to the newspaper office, finding it almost empty except for Paris, sitting gloomily behind her desk. Considering whether to talk to her or not, Rory finally decided to sit down behind her own desk, facing Paris.

"What are you staring at?", Paris asked without looking up from the paper she's been reading.

"I just –"

"Forget it, will you?", Paris blurted out, her voice echoing through the news room. "I don't care if you have one or two gigolos!"

"Paris!", Rory shushed, standing up to walk over to her roommate. "I don't have any gigolos!", she then added in a low voice.

"How do you call them then?"

"I don't know", she replied, truthfully. "I haven't figured that out yet…"

"And I won't help you. Leave me alone with your problems concerning _love_!" Paris spat out the word love as if it was something poisonous.

"I will, I'm sorry", Rory backed up, raising her hands apologizing. "Doyle still hasn't called you?"

"Do you think I would be in this mood if he has?!", Paris yelled, staring at her.

"I am not Doyle, save your anger for him, okay?"

"Oh hell, I will! That ignorant piece of –"

"Paris?", they suddenly heard a small voice from the door.

Both Rory and Paris turned around to see –

"Doyle?", Paris muttered in a mixture of surprise and rage.

He stared at them, looking rather puzzled.

"Doyle, Doyle, Doyle", Paris said, her voice as cold as ice, before she stood up to walk over to him. "How nice of you to come by again…"

"Paris, what's –"

"Um, I'll better leave now", Rory whispered and went back to her desk to grab her bag. Behind her, Paris and Doyle began to argue in high-pitched voices. Rory frowned. When she reached the door, she shot a glance over her shoulder. What she saw then, made her stare.

Paris and Doyle were hugging each other.

Rory raised two eyebrows, before she decided not to watch any more. 'Alright, they made up again. Good. Gross, but good. Very good. Now Paris has her own life back. Now it's my turn', Rory thought leaving the news room.

She turned the next corner heading to her next class. Sitting amongst other students listening to the professor talking about nothing and everything (despite the coffee in her system, it was hard for her to concentrate), when suddenly her cell vibrated inside her pocket. She got it out quickly, looking at the display for who was calling her in the middle of class. It read Felicity. Rory grinned and quietly got up her seat, trying to leave the class unnoticed.

When she was in the hall again, she flipped open her phone.

"Hello", she said, looking around.

"Um, who's there?", a female voice answered her, making Rory grow rigid immediately.

"Um, it's –"

"You are not Roger", the female voice said.

Roger? Who was – oh. Finn probably had her number under another name. So she was Roger on his cell. Nice. He was really uncreative concerning names.

"No, but this is his phone. What can I tell him?", she played along, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Um, it's fine. I'll call back later", the voice said, sounding irritated.

With that the call was over. Rory looked down at her cell. Why was a girl calling her cell, wanting to speak Roger, using Finn's phone? Wait. Finn's phone. How could a girl come to use his phone? It felt like a stab in the back when Rory realized what just happened. It was Finn she was thinking about after all. She was really naïve for thinking he would change just for being her dirty little secret. He was still a playboy and even though he had spent a lot of time with her lately, he still had his own life. A life with other girls.

She couldn't help but feel confused, a little angry, and above all, disappointed. There she was, telling him to dump Logan and he was already having fun with another girl. She recalled him talking THE talk, how he had asked where they stood. He was the one sounding sincere. He really seemed to want to be with her. But why was there a girl using his phone? She wanted to think that he had lost it somewhere, but even for her standards that was a little too imaginative – and stupid.

She stood in the middle of the hall, holding her cell in her hand, staring at it. Biting her lip, she entered the classroom again – just to grab her bag and leave again. This time she wouldn't stay unnoticed. Yet this time, she couldn't care less. She stormed towards her dorm, unaware of how many stares followed her. Entering her dorm, she heard faint noises from Paris's bedroom and assumed the worst. Even more disgusted, she entered her room and quickly gathered some things she shoved into her bag, before she flipped open her cell and dialled her mother's number.

She almost panicked when Lorelai wouldn't answer, but she reconsidered, calling her mother's hotel.

"Dragonfly Inn, Michel speaking", she heard the thick French accent of her mother's employee. "What can I do for you?"

"Michel, is my mother there?", she didn't hesitate to ask.

"Who's there?"

"It's Rory, Michel, who else could call the Inn to ask for her mom!"

"How should I know", he replied, sounding annoyed. "Lorelai isn't here at the moment. What should I tell her from her daughter?"

"Nothing, thank you!" With that Rory hang up again, cursing her cell for not reaching the people she wanted to speak to so desperately.

She sat down on her bed, her cell in her shaking hands. She felt tears welling up behind her eyes. This was all going into the wrong direction. Yesterday, everything was just fine. She had fun with Finn and was determined to dump Logan for treating her like one of many. And now Finn had done the same. Of course he had, he was Logan's best friend. They were so much alike, she should have known that.

She wanted to be with Finn, she had chosen him over Logan because he was so sweet when he was with her. That's why she wanted to leave Logan. She wanted to wait for Logan to call her, she wanted him to be desperate to see her, and then she would dump him. That's how she pictured it – and of course it had to go into a different direction. Logan gave a damn about her. And Finn had found somebody else already.

Of course. Life was unfair. She of all knew that.

She felt so miserable. She had had two nice guys. And now it seemed as if she had nothing. Suppressing her tears, she got up, grabbing her bag and leaving her dorm.

"Damn it, Paris, keep it down!", she yelled at her roommate's door from which other side she heard disturbing noises. Great. Now Paris was happy again – and she? How quickly they've changed roles. Unbelievable.

Rory left her dorm, left Yale, and headed to where she had left her car. Getting inside, she threw her bag on the backseat, turning on her music extra loud and drove off. Trying to forget her fucked up life.

She drove for many hours, in circles, around New Haven, around Hartford, and when it was already dark again, she'd just reached Stars Hollow. She pulled behind her mother's jeep in front of their house and killed the engine. She got out of the car, grabbed her bag and walked to the entrance door. Even though there was no light in the house, the door was suddenly opening. Rory backed up, just to see her mother with an umbrella in her hands, ready to attack her daughter.

"Oh, Rory, it's just you, I thought there was a burglar! Oh wait, Rory?"

"That's the name you gave me", she replied.

"What are you doing here, kid? Don't you have school?"

"I do but I just wanted to see you", Rory voice grew quieter.

"Aww, honey, are you alright?", Lorelai asked, lowering the umbrella, making way for her daughter to step inside the house.

"Well –"

"Ah, I assumed. Come here, let's sit in the kitchen. Are you hungry?"

Rory sat down at the kitchen table, biting her lip. "I'm starving, I didn't even have lunch."

"No lunch? My god, whatever brought you here, we surely have to kill it! It's keeping you from getting big and strong!" Lorelai said, getting the phone. "Pizza or Chinese?"

"Chinese sounds good", Rory replied.

"Chinese it is." With that Lorelai ordered almost half the things on the menu. "So, kid, why are you so eager to see Mommy in the middle of the week?"

Rory bit her lip, trying to avoid her mother's gaze. Even though she still felt miserable and desperate to tell Lorelai, it had sunk in how stupid and pathetic she was and had been. From all things she needed, it was not a disappointed glare from her mother. Or an 'I told you so'-dance.

"Well, you remember Logan?", Rory began, feeling how her mentioning Logan made her feel sad again. The whole day there had been no messages on her phone – and she had expected him to call her to arrange the date they had set on later.

"The blonde guy", Lorelai said, nodding. "What did he do?"

"He did nothing", Rory said, a little taken aback by her mother's assumption that Logan might be the problem. Well, he was, but it wasn't him who caused it. No, wait, he was, but yet again, it had been her decision to do what she had done and not his. "At least not everything", she then added.

"But?"

"Well, I told you how jealous he was about me going to that party with his friend Robert and how we dated a lot after that and how everything seemed to become normal between us. But then the calls and meetings went thinner and then he didn't call at all anymore. A week or so I haven't heard anything from him. That's when I met Finn", she just said, with her mother listening closely. Mentioning Finn was harder than she thought.

"Who's Finn?"

"Another friend of Logan."

"That boy must have had interesting friends…"

"Well, we met at the Pub accidentally and –"

"And?"

"And… Mom, I really, _really_ need you to not be disappointed, please?"

"Alright, I won't, I promise!", Lorelai replied, raising her right hand, her palm facing Rory, as if swearing on the bible in a court yard.

"Well, Finn and me, well, I began to date him and –"

"What's the bad part about that? Dating people can't be that bad…"

"Well… I… slept with Finn", Rory finally admitted, looking down on the table. "The same night we met in the Pub."

"I hope you didn't do it on the pool table", Lorelai replied, causing Rory to look up.

"You're not mad?"

"Rory, it's your life", she just said, when it rang at the door. Lorelai got up and kept talking while paying the Chinese delivery man. "You are old enough to do what you like. And if that's including dating and sleeping with the friends of your love interest, I can't say a word against that."

"I'm not sure that Logan's still my… love interest. Or ever was."

"But you dated him for quite a while now", Lorelai said, handing out sticks and food.

"But our whole relationship is not based on commitment, no strings attached, that's what we both wanted –"

"So I don't see a problem with you dating his friend."

"Well, it is, Finn's his best friend and they're sharing a dorm. And the confusing part about this is that Logan must not know about this thing between Finn and me. You know, I'm still seeing him as well and –"

"So you're dating two guys at the same time?"

"Sort of… but, well, maybe that has resolved itself today."

"What?"

"Logan seems to ignore me and Finn –"

"Hun, it's okay. Just tell Mommy, it will help", Lorelai said, watching Rory.

Rory sobbed, suddenly realizing she was crying. She quickly wiped away the tears with the back of her hand.

"I feel pathetic, Mom", she whispered. "I mean, both… things, with Logan and Finn, they are nothing important, it's just a little something in between. They both have other girls, and I knew that, I knew that before I started these tings. And yet –" She inhaled sharply, looking towards the back door. "I just thought they liked me. At least a little more than their other girls…"

Lorelai moved her chair around to hug her daughter silently.

"I wanted to be that kind of girl, the little adventure girl that doesn't care about anything. I wanted to be like that but I'm not. I'm not the adventure type, I don't even like adventures. What drove me that I actually thought I liked adventures? And now look at me, ooh, adventure girl, you are pathetic, crying your eyes out! I feel so stupid…"

"You're not stupid, love", her mother whispered. "You are sweet, and you don't deserve such a treatment."

"Yes, yes, I don't deserve that! That's what I told myself – but every time one of them approaches me, I fall for them again. It's annoying! I don't want them to dump me… you know, I wanted to dump Logan but he won't even call –"

"Maybe because he knows you are going to dump him –"

"And then there was this girl on Finn's phone and none of them had even tried to reach me today. I'm sick of it!" She felt how her sadness mutated to frustration to anger. "Oh and on top of that, Paris is back together with Doyle! It's so unfair!"

Lorelai raised an eyebrow.

"One day you have everything and the next morning you realize it was just a childish dream! And – oh god, I missed a whole day of school because I had to spend the day in bed with Finn! What am I?"

Lorelai could barely hide her surprise, yet she ignored her daughter's comment. "You keep telling me that's college, hun."

"I don't like it. I always thought of college as a great place to learn. To learn everything I wanted to learn, to read and to study and –"

"But life's so much more, Rory."

"I know", she cried. "But still I don't like it! It's so confusing and – ooh, I forget to mention that I had to watch Moulin Rouge sitting between Finn and Logan. That totally ruined the movie for me!"

"Nothing can ruin Moulin Rouge, babe, don't make those boys that important as to be able to ruin Moulin Rouge!"

Rory looked at her mother.

"How important are those two for you?"

"I… don't know. I thought they were. At least I thought Finn was. I was already considering introducing him to you."

"Oh, now I feel special!", Lorelai smirked. "But anyhow, don't forget it's your life and if you like Finn, than Finn it is. Forget about Logan. And if you think, it's not Finn, it's Logan. But if it's neither of them, you are on the market again, babe. The world is full of men!"

Rory couldn't help but threw her mother an awkward grin. "Thanks, Mom", she said and hugged her mother. "I feel better now."

"That's what mothers are there for, dirty laundry and dirty stories."

Rory grinned even wider, getting up slowly. "I guess I have to get back to Yale."

"I'm glad we talked, hun", Lorelai said, watching her daughter.

"Me too."

"And remember to call whenever you want to. Mommy's there for you."

"Thank you, mum", Rory said and hugged her mother again.

"Ooh, and send me a picture of that Finn when you've got the time. I just want to make sure my grand-children won't look ugly."

"Mom!"

"You like him, do you?", she asked, walking after her towards the door.

"I think I do", Rory replied, stopping in front of the door. "I really do."

"Get him, Adventure Girl, turn him into Couch Potato Man!"

"Couch potato man?"

"Yeah, the boring old man with a belly and a bald head, so no other girls can ever come between you!"

Rory chuckled. "I'll try."

"Make Mommy proud", Lorelai said and kissed Rory on the forehead.

"Bye, mom!" Rory waved her goodbye and walked over to her car.

When she got back to Yale, she – even though she didn't want to think such things – half expected Finn or Logan to sit in front of her dorm, waiting only for her. And even though she knew it was naïve and childish, she was highly disappointed as the hall in front of her dorm door was empty. She unlocked the door and went inside, heading to her room. The thoughts came back, when she entered her room – as did the disappointment.

"Stop thinking they would care for you! They don't! Forget about them!", she mumbled as she dropped her bag and took off her coat.

She switched on the light and again half expected someone to sit in the dark. But her room was empty. She turned around, maybe said someone just came from the bathroom. Nothing. She bit her lip, swallowing her frustration. Turning around, closing her door in the movement, she then sat down on her bed, pushed off her shoes and grabbed the nearest book, trying to fight every thought concerning certain males.

This was the hard way of learning how life worked, and even though Rory'd never wanted to experience something like that, she knew she had to go through it, assuming that she could only grow stronger. Life was not a television show where everything looked so easy. Life was life. But even life didn't expect people standing in front of windows.

* * *

_**A/N:** Le sigh. Chapter six - and from now on, you have to wait a little longer for the new chapters because I have to suck them out of my mind first xD But we'll see, I got loads of time right now and I so love this story myself - GG-fics are just fun to write and it's fun to give Finn a more complex character as he has in the show. So, yeah, I'll write on!_

_So. I really hope you liked this chapter - even though there was neither Finn nor Logan - but Lorelai for a change - I so love to write about her too, it's just fun!  
I myself considered this chappie as some kind of filler, just Rory's thoughts and stuff, she can't hang out with one of her guys every day, right?_

_And wow, I am still over-OVER-whelmed by all of you guys reading and reviewing this story. I can't thank you enough! THANK YOU SO MUCH!_

_**Disclaimer**: GG belong still to ASP, The All-American Rejects borrowed me the titles xD_


	7. Change Your Mind

**Dirty Little Secret**

**Chapter 7 - Change Your Mind**

The next morning, Rory woke up covered by several books. 'This must be heaven', she thought, rolling on her side. Yet as soon as her gaze fell on her cell phone lying on her night stand, she recalled the feelings of yesterday. Groaning slightly, she sat up and looked away from her cell, her face a stony mask.

"No", she said loudly. "I won't be that kind of girl. I was not the other kind of girl and I definitely won't be the kind of girl mourning about being neglected. Not anymore! Forget it!"

With that she stood up and quickly got dressed. As she went over to open the window to let the fresh morning air blow away her sorrow, she saw something standing on the outer windowsill. Opening the window widely, she stared outside.

As if in a weird dream, she grabbed the large bottle of Tequila (around which a small plastic butterfly was tied) and got it off the windowsill. Weighing the bottle in her hands, she couldn't help but swallow hard.

"Finn", she mouthed, looking around disorientated. "You were here?", she whispered, looking down at the bottle. She had to grin about the butterfly, before quickly getting it off the bottle and putting it onto her palm, eyeing it. She inhaled deeply, turning around, putting the bottle on her desk. She then pinned the butterfly next to the rose on her jacket, watching her reflection on the mirror in her room. Throwing it a smile, she then grabbed her bag and left her dorm, heading to breakfast and her first class. Determined not to think about Finn. 'Keep to the code', she told herself, recalling her monologue.

A while after she was gone, an almost audible sound echoed through her room, while her cell vibrated on her night stand.

Just before lunch, Rory headed to the dining hall, meeting a smiling Paris out front.

"Hey Rory", she greeted her roommate cheerfully – something that didn't just confuse Rory.

"Paris", Rory replied.

"You're heading for lunch?"

"No, I just like to stand in front of the dining hall, Paris."

"Well, everyone needs hobbies. You care to join me?"

Rory glared at Paris with her forehead furrowed.

"Well –"

"Oh fine! Come on, then", Paris said and dragged Rory after her.

They sat down on an almost empty table with both their plates fully loaded.

"You know, I am happy, Rory", Paris began, Rory assuming the worst.

"Really?", she said, a little indifferent.

"You might have noticed that Doyle and I got back together –"

"Only deaf people wouldn't have noticed!"

"- and he is even sweeter than before. You know, he was away at the funeral of his aunt and couldn't reach me for days. He said he tried to call me more than twice a day but his cell wouldn't work –"

"What a lame excuse!"

"That's that I thought but then I checked and he was right, back up there in Canada, where his aunt was buried, they sometimes have these storms that rip down phone lines –" Rory raised an eyebrow. "- anyhow, I am so happy!"

"Well, good for you!", Rory replied a little annoyed.

"Aren't you happy?"

"Do I look like I'm happy, Paris?"

"What? None of your gigolos has time for you?"

"Paris!", Rory blurted out. "I told you!"

"Whatever. So now that I'm happy, you are not? Oh! Don't even think about being jealous!"

"Trust me, I am not jealous that you are back together with Doyle!"

"Well, good."

"Good."

"What's with the weird butterfly?", Paris asked after a while of them eating silently.

"It's not weird, I think it's sweet", Rory said, looking down at it, before looking away again, trying to push away the up-welling thoughts and feelings.

Paris watched her, frowning. "What gigolo gave you that?"

"Could you stop calling them gigolos?", Rory whispered, looking around.

"So?"

"None of your business!"

"But you have to expect people asking you about that thing when you are wearing it in public!"

"Yeah but then I would tell everyone that I just like butterflies!", Rory said, glaring at Paris. She was about to get up when suddenly someone sat down beside her.

"Hey, Ace!"

Rory turned around rather shocked. "Logan!"

"Ooh, I guess, I'll better go. Don't want to disturb anything –"

Rory shot Paris a warning glare, before she turned back to Logan, while Paris got up and left them. Rory bit her lip before she threw Logan a smile.

"Hi."

"Hey", he smirked.

"Are we going to stare at each other a little longer? Because if we do, I have to tell you that I am very good at this. I once won a staring contest with my mother", Rory rambled, trying to ignore her nervousness.

Logan just shot her another smirk.

"So, are we?"

"Don't worry, Ace, I won't beat you off your staring throne, just wanted to see you."

"Really? Why?", it emerged from her throat, making her feel stupid about it immediately. "I mean, um, -"

"Relax, Ace. Man, are you tense today", he said, watching her.

'Damn right, I am', she thought, suddenly knowing that it won't be easy to do what she had planned. But she had to do it, there was no use continuing as she did. "Sorry, Paris annoyed me", she said instead, blaming her roommate.

"Ah, I see", Logan grinned. "So, how about dinner tonight?"

Oh! Was he asking her out? Did he really want her? Ideal conditions for her plan on dumping him. Yet when she looked at him, she wasn't sure if she could do it anymore. He was sweet after all – even though she was just one of many. Oh dear, hello again, confusion…

She looked away, sighing, considering future events. On one hand she should have been happy about Logan, the infamous Logan Huntzberger, choosing her as company for tonight's dinner; on the other hand she had told herself that she wasn't that kind of girl. She needed strings – even though it sounded funny. But what was she supposed to do? Say no to dear Logan? She even doubted he would accept a no. And if she said yes, would she still be able to get rid of him? And what for? To fall for the next infamous member of the playboy league called Finn? Even though he was all sweet (she shot a glance at the butterfly), he was still the same as Logan.

Logan or Finn. Logan. Finn.

She suddenly realized that it was either both or none.

If she chose Logan, she could never ever stay at his place – because Finn was right next door. And the same problem with Finn. Damn. Why were those two living together? And why was she falling for those two? She shot a quick thought at Colin and wondered how it would be to date him as well – yet she rejected that thought immediately. Colin was no option. As if Logan and Finn weren't enough…

Alright, Logan. Yes or no. Finn. What about Finn?

He was the one who expected her to dump Logan. She had chosen him first – mainly because he had spent the last days with her and Logan hadn't. What if Logan had been there for her? She wouldn't have met Finn in the Pub and nothing would have been like it was now. If only Logan had called her. Then she wouldn't be sitting beside him in the dining hall, deep in thought and argument about whether to say yes or no to his question.

"Um, Ace?"

His voice caught her off guard. 'No, wait, I'm not done yet', she thought desperately before turning to face Logan with a smile. "Hmm?"

"Did you hear me?"

"What?"

"I wonder what you have been arguing about the last ten minutes…"

"Ten minutes? I, oh god, I'm so sorry, I'm not… um… I'm a little thoughtful today."

"Oh I saw that", he replied with a grin. "So?"

"So what?"

"Thoughtful and slow, a deadly mixture, Ace."

"Oh, that", she said, franticly looking for an answer. It was then that she saw something over Logan's shoulder. Was that –

She narrowed her eyes and yes. It was Finn, standing in one of the doors leading into the dining hall. And next to him – a girl. Nothing too spectacular, but then he leant down and kissed the girl. It was quite a distance but Rory could swear it was more than a casual kiss. Her stomach turned at the sight of that. She quickly looked away – and into Logan's eyes.

"Dinner, huh?", she then said. "Pick me up at seven!", she added and threw him a grin before she got up and brought back her plate.

She felt Logan's stare on her back and couldn't help smirking from ear to ear. What she didn't know was the other pair of eyes that followed her.

* * *

Later that afternoon she sat in her room, studying – as suddenly her cell vibrated. She looked up and realized it had been lying on her night stand the whole day. Weird, she never forgot her cell – but this morning, she had been confused and distracted enough to do so. She picked up the phone and looked at the display. The caller had already hung up again. She flipped it open and saw that she had two missed calls. Two?

She dialled her mailbox and listened to the computer voice while flipping through the book on her lap. The last call was blank but the first had left a message. She put the cell between her head and shoulder, writing down some notes as she listened to the computer voice announcing the message. She almost jumped when she heard Finn's voice.

"Hey, love", he had begun, his voice somehow expressionless. "Well, apparently you are not there so, as you can hear, I'm leaving you a message. Perhaps you already found the bottle and the butterfly. I brought them by last night, I would have knocked but you were already asleep. So –"

She hung up. What was he thinking? He seemed not to have the faintest clue what he had done to her!

She quickly dialled his number and waited. Until he answered.

"Hel-"

"What do you think I am?", she blurted right away.

"Um, what?"

"I just heard your message and you actually think everything is fine? Just because you bring me by that bottle and that stupid butterfly you think I'm fine with you again? Guess what; no, I'm not. I had a terrible day yesterday because of you -"

"Darling?"

"No, don't darling me! I really thought I had been clear by what I said, but apparently you didn't hear me and – well, too bad, because tonight, I'm going out with Logan because you weren't there and apparently aren't ready to –"

"Open your window."

"What?", she turned around perplexed. Getting up from her bed, shoving aside books and notebooks, she went to her window and pulled the curtains aside. There stood Finn, his cell pressed against his ear, waving at Rory as she looked at him.

"Did you hear the rest of my message?"

"What?", she replied, continuing staring at him through the window. "Wait."

She put the call on hold and called her mailbox again, listening to the rest of his message. While doing so, she frowned, still locking eyes with Finn through the glass. "Oh."

"I'll forgive you, love. Now let me in", he replied, winking at her.

She slowly opened the window and watched him climb into her room, actually having lost her speech. He stood right before her, looking down at her, his cell still pressed on his ear.

Rory bit her lip, looking up at him, the hand that held her cell to her ear shaking slightly. "I have to hang up now", she said into the phone.

He nodded and replied into his cell: "Okay, bye, love."

They both lowered their phones and kept looking at each other.

"I didn't know she was –", Rory began, but was interrupted by Finn who put his index finger on her lips.

"How about starting with the beginning?", he whispered and bent down to brush his lips over hers. "Hello, love."

"Hi, Finn", she replied, a little taken aback.

"How was your day?"

She just glared at him.

"Alright, forget that, you're right. I should have told you as soon as Sandra accidentally called you."

"Sandra –"

"My cousin. As I told you in my message."

"So you spent the day with your cousin?"

"I had to. My aunt told me to show her around Yale because she considers changing colleges. She's going to Berkeley. So I showed her around yesterday and today we had lunch together before she left again. I wanted to tell you but I somehow forgot."

"I noticed that. And I still don't understand why your cousin is calling me from your cell."

"Her cell died and she asked me to use mine. She wanted to call her fiancée. He's a friend of mine too, so she assumed I had his number as well."

"Her fiancée? You mean… Roger?"

"That's his name."

"Oh god!"

"That's what she thought."

"Oh my – is she, are they alright? I mean, she must have thought I am her fiancée's – that he is cheating on her! And I told her that this was his cell… oh my –"

"Don't worry, love", Finn chuckled. "I explained her everything."

"You did? So she knows?"

"Yes."

"Well, as does my mother by now", Rory muttered.

"As long as Logan doesn't know, everything's alright."

"I hope. Oh and why did you name me Roger?"

Finn smirked. "I am uncreative", he simply stated.

"And wanting me to be more imaginative."

"I don't need names to be imaginative", he winked.

She grinned up at him. "So, um –"

"Yes, we are even, love. Right?"

"Right", she gloated.

"I missed you yesterday", he whispered, before he pulled her into a tight embrace.

She couldn't help but smile against his chest. "Oh shit!", she suddenly blurted out and pushed him off again.

"Hey, love, you're ruining the moment!"

"I'm sorry, I just – what time is it?"

"You keep asking me that…", he said matter-of-factly, before looking at his watch. "Almost 6.15."

"Oh no!"

"Oh no?"

"Logan's going to pick me up at seven –"

"And you haven't dressed yet?", he imitated her panic, putting his hands on his cheeks.

She shot him a glare. "Are you serious?"

"I'm always serious, love", he grinned, lowering his hands.

"But I can't go to dinner with Logan now."

"Why not?"

"Finn!"

"Yes, darling?"

"You really want me to go to dinner with Logan tonight?"

"He asked you out first. I have to respect that."

Rory watched him silently. She wasn't sure whether it was totally sweet of him to say that, or whether he wanted to make her feel guilty – or even whether he didn't care. "Why?", she asked after a while.

"Why?", he repeated her question, tilting his head. "Because it's your choice."

She continued watching him – before she took a step towards him and pulled her arms around his neck to close her lips around his. He responded immediately, putting his hands on her waist, kissing her hungrily. In blind passion, she pushed Finn towards her desk, making the Tequila bottle on top shake dangerously. Another knock against the desk and the bottle fell to the ground, shattering loudly.

They parted abruptly, Rory looking down at the broken bottle in shock. "Oh no! Julio!"

"You named the bottle?"

"Yeah", she muttered, kneeling down to rescue the last pieces and droplets.

"You named the bottle Julio?"

"How would you have named it?"

"I wouldn't have named it."

"You're boring!", she laughed.

"Am I?", he mocked, kneeling down beside her.

She turned her head to him and grinned.

"Leave Julio, he was bound to die. I'll get you a new Julio, alright?"

"Stop saying Julio, that sounds funny coming from you!", she giggled and kissed him.

Finn quickly shoved aside the shattered glass and pulled Rory along with him, still crawling on his knees around the floor. She followed him. They reached the middle of her room and faced each other like dogs, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"What are we doing down here, Finn?", she asked.

"I don't know."

"Hmm."

"Hmm?"

"Hmm!"

"You inhaled Julio!"

She giggled. "Might have."

"That's gross."

"Somehow."

"How did you name the butterfly?", he asked, poking her chest.

"Miles."

"Miles?" Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"Why did you name it Miles? What kind of a name is Miles?"

"A cute one."

"You keep surprising me, Rory Gilmore", he grinned and stretched his neck to kiss her, crawling closer to her, pulling his arm around her neck. She put her hands on his cheeks and deepened the kiss. They soon found themselves lying on the floor, Finn on top of Rory, their arms wrapped around each other, their lips glued together.

She just messed with his hair, having her eyes closed, and enjoyed the feeling of his lips on her throat, when there was a distant knock on the door. After that she heard Paris yell through her dorm:

"Rory! You got a visitor!"

Rory's eyes jerked open – as did Finn's. They stared at each other for a second, Rory's hands in Finn's hair, Finn's body pinning Rory to the floor. They couldn't even jump apart as the door to Rory's room opened slowly. They both stared at the door with their mouths open – as did Logan as he noticed them.

* * *

_**A/N**: Ooh, another cliffhanger. I am so sorry xD  
Chapter 7, yeah! And finally it's getting somewhere. _

_I hope you liked it _

_Thank you again EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED AND READ THIS, I love you, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am so flattered!_

_**Disclaimer**: GG to ASP, titles to AAR._


	8. One More Sad Song

**Dirty Little Secret**

**Chapter 8 - One More Sad Song**

Logan stared down at them, frozen to the doorframe. Rory thought he would turn around and leave again, his face like a mask. She felt as if her heart had stopped beating and she was actually hovering above her body, watching the scene from far away. When Logan began to move, she was too shocked to react and the next thing she noticed was Finn being lifted off her body. She saw him fly against her desk like in slow motion – yet when he hit the wood and fell to the ground, she suddenly jerked awake again, quickly standing up, running after Logan who continued kicking Finn with his face like a fist.

"Logan, stop!"

She heard a moan from Finn and how his face twitched in pain as he was pushed into the shattered glass of the broken Tequila bottle. But Logan didn't seem to notice and bent down to lift Finn up by the collar of his shirt. He pushed him against the desk again, before they both stood facing each other, panting, like bulls, Logan with his fists ready to punch Finn, Finn with his hands raised in defence.

Rory stood next to them, tears inside her eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening.

"Logan", she just heard Finn say. "I –"

"Shut up, you lying bastard!", Logan said through clenched teeth, boxing Finn in the face.

Finn tumbled sideways, holding his nose.

"Logan, STOP!", Rory cried.

"You promised me something, Finn!", Logan continued, punching Finn with every word.

It was then that Finn bent over, seemingly out of breath, but then rose again unexpectedly, kicking Logan into the stomach. They continued fighting each other, pushing themselves around the room, kicking, beating, hitting each other, with Rory watching them, crying soundlessly. What had she done?

Logan just pushed Finn into the space between bed and desk, when another loud voice echoed through the room.

"HEY!"

Logan froze, caught in the motion to bend over Finn who lay on his elbows, to look at an angry looking Paris, standing in Rory's doorframe.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE AND DEMOLISH SOMEBODY ELSE'S ROOM!", Paris yelled, grabbing the collar of a surprised Logan and dragged him after her.

Finn stared after them, panting, putting one hand on his chest. They heard how Paris pushed Logan out of their dorm and then came back to do the same with Finn. But it was Rory who held her back, walking over to Finn with her face soaked in tears. She looked at Paris and Paris just nodded, understanding her roommate without words, before leaving her room.

Rory grabbed Finn's hand (who winced at her touch) and pulled him into a standing position. Biting her lip, she looked at him, how his face was drenched in blood and bruises, how his shirt was ripped and his hands red from scratches and cuts, how he stood uneasily on his feet. He replied her gaze, as silently as she was, and swallowed.

"I am sorry", she whispered almost audible.

"No, I am" he replied in the same tone.

"This shouldn't have happened."

"I know."

"I am really sorry, Finn", Rory mouthed, watching him over once more.

Underneath the blood in his face he looked really pale – which looked odd against his tanned skin. It was then that Rory noticed the blood dripping from one of his hands. She quickly grabbed his hand – at which he winced again heavily – and almost tripped at the sight of it. There, only inches from his vein, were several glass splinters sticking in his skin. Rory gasped and just stared at his hand. She then looked past him at the floor where the broken Tequila bottle was lying, the area around it drenched in red.

"Oh god", she mouthed and quickly dragged Finn after her – until she noticed how he tumbled behind her. "Finn, stay with me!", she cried, before she yelled for Paris. "Paris!"

Her roommate looked around the doorframe.

"Call an ambulance, please!", Rory urged.

"Is he –"

"He's losing a lot of blood, quick, Paris!"

Paris went off. The next second, Rory felt Finn tumble again before he collapsed to the floor. It felt so surreal when she knelt down beside him, how he lay unconscious on her floor, how she felt his pulse, how she cried silently until Paris told her the ambulance was there. Rory couldn't think, she felt as if someone had switched off her brains. She watched how Finn was pulled onto a stretcher, how he was carried away out of her dorm, how she was asked several things and yet just stared at everything unfocused.

Paris stood beside her, as silent as Rory.

"Don't you want to follow them?", she then asked.

"What?", Rory mouthed.

"Go with them."

"What –"

But Paris already shoved her outside the dorm. When Rory saw the staring people outside her dorm, gathering around the ambulance parked right in front of her dorm building, she suddenly came back to her senses. She hurried to the car, just in time to see the doors close.

"Wait!", she yelled.

A medic turned to her.

"Can I come with you?"

"Are you related?"

"No, but I'm his … girlfriend", she said, unaware of what she had said, it just slipped from her lips.

"Well, alright, get in", the medic said and opened the door for her to get inside the back of the ambulance.

She climbed inside and sat down on a bench beside the stretcher, watching Finn lying motionless upon it. She put her hand on his and leant back, trying to breathe normally, as the ambulance drove off towards the hospital.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Rory sat on a chair in the hallway of the hospital, waiting for the doctor to tell her how Finn was. She had finally recovered from her shock, knowing that, the next time she saw Logan, she wouldn't care about anything anymore. How could he possibly beat the crap out of his best friend just because of a girl? She refused to think that he liked her a lot more than he would ever say, however he felt about her, he did everything to make her hate him. From now on, Logan was erased from her life.

A voice cut through her thoughts.

"Miss?"

She looked up to see a man in a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck looking down at her.

"Yes?"

"You came with –", he asked, looking down at the clipboard in his hands.

"Yes, with Finn. How is he?"

"He just woke up. You can go in now."

Rory nodded and followed the doctor to Finn's room. He held open the door and Rory walked in, seeing Finn how she had never seen him before.

There was a large band aid on his nose and his hands were both wrapped in white bandages, the bed sheets were pulled up to his chest and he was wearing a typical hospital shirt that made him look rather weird. He didn't look as pale as she remembered, but he still looked weak. Poor Finn.

She walked over to his bed and stood beside it, looking down at him. His eyes rested on hers and there was even a little smile on his lips.

"How are you?", she asked, her voice almost breaking.

"Better, love", he said, tilting his head a little, his voice a little hoarse.

"Logan is such an ass!", she said through clenched teeth, sitting down on the side of his bed.

"I don't know, I guess he was right…"

"What? No, Finn, even though you promised him whatever promise, he doesn't have the right to beat you up!"

"I always assumed him to be stronger", he said thoughtfully. "But I never expected to lie in a hospital because of him."

"Admit it, he is an ass!"

"He is, if that makes you happy", Finn smirked, before holding his chest.

"You sure you feel better?"

"I am, love, don't worry", he smiled.

She bit her lip and watched him, her hand stroking lightly over his bandages.

"I'm glad you're here", he whispered after a while.

She looked at him, a sympathetic smile on her lips.

"I couldn't think of any other girl visiting me."

"No way!"

"No, face it, love, I am not the guy girls want to worry about. I am the type of guy to have fun with, to drink and sleep with. But the morning after, I'll forget their names and they will forget my name. It's always been like that. And actually I never minded that circumstance."

Rory watched him.

"They told me you said you were my girlfriend", he added in a low voice.

She blushed lightly. "I just wanted to go with you, and they wouldn't have let me if –"

"It's fine, love. I liked the sound of that."

"You mean… you, you like me to be your –", she stammered, staring at him.

He just smirked at her. "Girlfriend sounds good."

"But that would mean that you're… my…"

"Boyfriend, exactly, love. You're sharp today."

She smiled widely. "But do you think we can do this?"

"Yes, why not?"

"Well –"

"Alright, you might have a point there. I don't seem like the commitment guy, I know, but actually I never met a girl like you. Someone to talk to, to have fun with, maybe this works out just fine. You know, you are –"

He held his chest, trying to sit up a little, suddenly breaking into a heavy cough. Rory watched him with rising concern, but Finn shook his head and recovered quickly. He looked at her and smiled, the band aid on his nose making him look funny.

"Perfect", he finished.

Rory felt tears inside her eyes, breaking into a wide smile. She leant closer and kissed him carefully. He put a bandaged hand on her cheek and deepened the kiss – when the door to his room opened slowly.

"I am sorry to interrupt", they heard the doctor say.

They parted, Finn leaning back in bed, Rory standing up with her cheeks redden.

"Visiting hours are over, Miss", the doctor said, scribbling something down on his clipboard, standing at the end of Finn's bed.

"Is he staying over night?"

"Apparently, yes. We just want to make sure there are no remaining injuries."

Rory nodded, watching Finn.

"I'll come back tomorrow as early as possible", she whispered.

"I'll be here", he replied, grinning.

"Take care", Rory said, leaning down. "Boyfriend", she added, before kissing him softly.

"Same to you", he said, kissing her back. "Girlfriend."

Rory smiled at him and turned around to leave. Reaching the door, she turned once more to wave him goodbye. He winked at her. With that she left his room, left the hospital – realizing once she reached the dark parking lot that her car was still at Yale – as was her purse with her cell and money. Oh no.

She went back into the hospital, walking over to the reception.

"Excuse me?", she addressed the nurse sitting behind the desk. "I forgot my wallet and cell phone, is it possible I could make a call from your phone?"

"There's a pay phone in the hall", the nurse replied, without looking at her.

"Yes, I know, but I don't have any money on me. Please, could I just use your phone to call my mother?"

"I need that", the nurse continued, picking up the phone – without saying anything.

"Oh, thanks", Rory grumbled, turning around.

She then decided to go back to Finn's room to stay until the sun came out again. Opening the door quietly, she saw that his lights were already switched off. She slipped inside and closed the door again, pulling a chair nearer to his bed. She then sat down, watching Finn who apparently had fallen asleep some time ago. She sighed silently, cuddling into the chair.

"That doesn't seem comfortable, love", she then heard him mutter.

She tilted her head until he turned his head and opened an eye.

"You're not sleeping?"

"Can't. Too many meds."

"Aren't they supposed to calm you down?"

"Not when your system is used to alcohol as main food", he said, closing his eye again. "What are you still doing here, love?"

"I forgot my cell and money when I came with you in the ambulance. So I can't call anyone and I can't pay a cab."

"And I thought you already miss me", he mocked, grinning with his eyes closed.

"That too", she whispered, causing him to open his eyes.

They smiled at each other in the darkness, before Finn slowly moved to the other side of his bed to make way for Rory. She eyed him, looking concerned.

"Come on, I'm fine. As long as you don't poke my nose", he said with a grin.

She then climbed into his bed, cuddling against him.

"Are you really sure you want me as a boyfriend?", Finn asked after a while, his arm around Rory.

"Before I'll answer that, tell me your definition of boyfriend."

"Boyfriend … a boyfriend is a male partner in a non-marital romantic relationship, usually considered more than an ordinary friend, especially in a romantic sense."

She giggled. "Now you looked that up before!"

He grinned. "Well, I go to school after all! Anyhow, just pretend I am your boyfriend. I – as your boyfriend – would take you out to dinner and other lovely events, I would be there for you when you need me – and you can still call me Felicity if you like to –, I would buy you lovely presents and actually I would do everything that those cheesy boyfriends in the movies do."

"But I don't want you to be a cheesy boyfriend…"

"So of course I'll be different!"

She laughed quietly. "Like how?"

"Like, um, I would bring you another Julio and Miles every day, I would party with you, laugh with you, be with you…" His voice trailed off.

"Will I be the only one?", Rory whispered, a little afraid of his possible reaction.

He turned to look at her, locking eyes with her, before he leant down to kiss her gently.

"You already are, love", he whispered.

She smiled widely, snuggling against him. "This is great…"

"But we still have one problem, darling."

"Hmm?"

"You remember why I'm here?"

"Oh", she said and looked up at him. "But what are we supposed to do?"

"We have to talk to him."

"But –"

"Rory, I'm still his roommate and his best friend, at least one of them now. I have to clear this between me and him. I owe him that…"

"Hmm, you're probably right…", she whispered against him.

"But that can wait until tomorrow", he said, his voice growing quieter with every word.

"Good night, Finn", she mumbled, kissing his cheek.

"'Night, love."

With that they both fell asleep over a rather unusual evening.

* * *

The next morning, Rory awoke next to a slightly snoring Finn. She looked around and quickly remembered where she was. Watching him for a while, just sucking in everything about him, she felt something rise inside her. A feeling she hadn't had for a long time. Sighing quietly, she slowly got out of his bed, shooting him a last glance when she reached the door, before she left his room – just in time for the nurses to wake their patients. Cuddling into her coat, she walked the distance back to Yale.

Arriving at her dorm, the first thing she did was to re-dress, grabbing her purse and leaving her dorm again, her steps quick, her paces long. She reached her place of destination within minutes, banging against the door as soon as she did. When the door opened slowly, she didn't wait for someone to call her in; she just walked inside and glared at the person who had opened the door.

"How dare you?", she asked Logan who slowly closed the door and stared back at her. "How dare you?", she repeated.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't play stupid, Huntzberger! You know what you did and I was wondering why! Are you that arrogant that you can't accept somebody else's feelings? Do you have to beat the crap out of them just because you weren't there first? You know what? It was your own fault. If you had called me last week, none of this would have happened! But you had to ignore me, you had to treat me like that! You had to remind me that I was just one of many. Guess what? No, I couldn't live with that! I am not that kind of girl! So I found somebody else who would respect me, who was there for me. And the first thing you do when you find out is to fight him?"

Rory drew a breath, staring at Logan with her hands shaking at her sides.

"Why did you have to fight him? Why did you beat him? He is in hospital, Logan. Do you know that? He is there because of you! Because his supposed-to-be best friend beat the crap out of him over a girl! A girl you couldn't have! What is it with you? Some days you can't wait to see me again and then there are days you totally forget about me! I can't take it anymore, Logan! I need commitment! And because you are not the type of guy for that, oh, and because of the fact that you brought my boyfriend into the hospital, well, you might know what happens next!"

"Boyfriend?", was the first thing coming from Logan since he had closed the door. "Finn is your boyfriend now?" He laughed coldly. "I don't believe this."

"What is wrong with you? You don't know Finn, you don't know him the way I know him. He is sweet and, unlike you, he wants to try to be a boyfriend!"

"Oh and you believe him?", Logan blurted out, reaching Rory's level of volume. "Do we speak about the same Finn? Have you met him?"

"Yes I have –"

"And you just want to ignore that fact that he's a playboy, just like you think I am!? He will not change, Rory! Believe me! Finn is Finn and Finn is not a boyfriend! I would be a better boyfriend than Finn!"

Rory glared at him with her mouth open. "What?"

"I am", he said quieter, taking a step towards her.

"You are insane! Have you ever heard yourself talking? How dare you? When you weren't there for me, Finn was there and he has been ever since! He is already changing! Unlike you he is actually willing to try!"

"Oh and that makes him perfect, huh? You'll regret this, Rory. You'll regret this big time! But I warned you! Don't you come back to me after he dumped you!"

"How dare you!", she yelled again. "Do you really think I would ever come back to you after what you have done to me? And to him? Is your ego that big? If it is, I'll better leave you two alone now!"

With that she turned around, about to open the door. It was then that his hands grabbed her by the shoulders and pressed her against the closed door. She gasped in surprise and stared at him. He stared back at her, his expression unreadable. His hands squeezed her upper arms, while his jaw was set and his eyes narrowed.

"I told you, Gilmore. Don't mess with me!"

"Are you threatening me?", she asked with her forehead furrowed. "You are such a –"

"Shut up!", he yelled, making Rory wince. "You had to do this, it was your decision. It's entirely your fault. It could have been better, you know? We could have been such a nice couple. But you had to choose Finn over me – and trust me, that was your biggest mistake ever!"

His voice was as cold as ice and Rory suddenly felt the urge to run away. She'd never seen him like that. She was actually afraid he would do the same to her as he did to Finn. But as soon as icy Logan had arrived, he was gone again. He lowered his hands from her arms and stepped away from her. She stared at him, feeling a lump inside her throat and tears burning behind her eyes.

"Logan", she began silently.

"Forget it, Rory" he said and turned around. "You made your choice."

She quickly recovered. "What is that supposed to mean? Are you tormenting me with guilt now? Guess what, I feel everything but guilty! I am mad at you! And I am even madder at you for reacting like this! I just can't hear it anymore! Just go to one of your other girls and leave me alone. And leave Finn alone. Because, yeah, I made my choice and I chose Finn and it's entirely my fault! Do not, I repeat, do not _ever_ blame him again!"

With that she pulled open the door and left before he could even react.

Outside his dorm, she inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself. She then headed to her car and drove back to the hospital. She found Finn sitting on his bed, with his chest bare, trying to get dressed. He looked up when she entered and threw her a smile.

"Hello, love."

She didn't reply but walked over to him and pulled her arms around him, burying her head in his chest. He replied her embrace hesitantly. They hugged for a while, before she backed away again and sat down beside him.

"Are you alright?"

"I talked to Logan", she said quietly.

He silently pulled an arm around her.

"And I told him what an ass he is and was and might be forever and that he should leave me alone and that he should never ever blame you again and –"

"Thank you", he whispered and heaved her under a little wincing on his lap, pulling both arms around her, his chin resting on her shoulder.

"What for?"

"Now I can go home again", he grinned.

She slapped his chest playfully.

"No more pain, love, I have to recover first", he smirked.

"How are you anyway?"

"Better."

"That's what you said yesterday as well. So are you feeling better than yesterday – which was already better – or better than from before yesterday – which is the same statement as yesterday?"

Finn watched her with his forehead furrowed. He opened his mouth and closed it again. Before he tried it once more. "I feel very good, darling", he then said with a smile.

"That's what I wanted to hear", she smirked, turning her head to kiss him carefully on the lips. "Oh and your nose thingy is gone. Ooh, what a cute little band aid!", she said, poking his nose carefully – yet not careful enough for he winced as soon as the tip of her finger touched his skin. "Oh dear, I'm sorry!"

He just shook he head, his eyes watering.

"Is it broken?"

"Mhm", he nodded, inhaling sharply. "But the doctor said I'll keep my boyish good looks!" A grin spread on his face, even though it still twitched in pain.

Rory cautiously cupped his face and wiped away a tear that was running down his cheek.

"Stop it", he said, laughing. "I feel stupid already!"

"You don't have to. It's a normal reaction of your body to pain."

"I see", he grinned and tilted his head. "Well, that sounds nicer."

She watched him, smiling, feeling how her stomach once again began to swirl.

"Butterflies", she mumbled, looking down at her belly, smiling.

"What?"

She just laughed quietly. "Nothing", she said, locking eyes with him, before she leant in to close her lips around his. He pulled her arms around her even tighter, while she cupped his face. She just kissed his earlobe, when the door opened.

"And again I am sorry to interrupt."

She let go of Finn and turned around to see the doctor of yesterday again.

"And I am sorry too", she whispered, getting off Finn's lap.

Finn continued dressing and looked at the doctor.

"You are free to go", he just said, signing the clipboard he was carrying. "I just need your signature here and we might never see each other again!"

"What a shame", Finn whispered to Rory, grinning.

He signed the clipboard and got up slowly, Rory supporting him as he began to tumble.

"Ooh, too many painkillers", Finn said, shaking his head.

"And I thought you might remember that feeling from elsewhere", Rory mocked.

He grinned at her and together they left the hospital, heading to Rory's car.

"How cute", Finn said as she unlocked the doors.

"Just get in", she smirked.

He tried. Finally sitting beside Rory, he turned around to her look at her. She met his gaze and started the engine. When he wouldn't look away, she killed the engine again and turned on her seat to take a better look at him. All he was doing was smiling. She bit her lip and raised an eyebrow. It was then that they both started laughing.

"I like this", Finn said, grinning.

"Me too", Rory agreed and leant closer to him to kiss him. Licking her lips, she leant back into her seat and started the engine. "How about lunch?"

"Yes, I am starving", Finn nodded and looked through the windshield.

"God, you are perfect for me", she laughed and drove off the parking lot, heading back to Yale.

* * *

_**A/N:** Phew, no more cliffhanger xDD But don't worry, there'll be more chapters, THIS IS NOT THE END! There are still enough things to solve._

_So, anyway, chapter 8, wow, I'm writing on this story for less than a week and I'm already dne. It's great. And this is mostly because of the great feedback I'm getting from you guys! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING AND REVIEWING! Le Sigh. Thanks!_

_**Disclaimer**: GG to ASP, titles to AAR._


	9. Dance Inside

**Dirty Little Secret**

**Chapter 9 - Dance Inside**

When they had reached Yale, Finn got out of Rory's car rather clumsily, looking around as he did so. Rory watched him, tilting her head.

"Do you know that your shirt is still ripped?", she said matter-of-factly.

"No, love, really?" His eyes widened – as did his grin. "And I thought that Santa's little helpers or how they are called in those darn hospitals would fix that for me. Ah, now I am disappointed!"

Rory smirked at him, locked her car and went over to him. He held out his hand with his palm up for her to grab. She bit her lip and watched him, before grabbing his hand, still unable to believe that this was really happening. She had tamed the non-stop-dating-non-commitment-playboy-guy Finn? She definitely had to get used to that. They walked towards the dorm buildings hand in hand.

"So are you planning to change or do you want to show your war injuries to the whole school?", Rory asked, grinning up at him.

"Oh I don't need a ripped shirt to show off my war injuries, love", he replied, pointing at his nose.

"Oh I forgot that", she said.

"How can you forget that? It's in the middle of my face! Do you even look at me?", he mocked, putting his free hand on his chest. "I am hurt that my own girlfriend won't look at me!"

She threw him a smile, before she grew thoughtful again. "Isn't it weird for you?"

"What do you mean, love?"

"This boyfriend-girlfriend thing."

"Is it supposed to be weird?"

"I don't know. I mean, you said so yourself, you are not the commitment guy, but then you're calling yourself my boyfriend. I am just confused and –"

"And you want to make sure that I really mean it?"

She nodded, watching him as they walked.

"Well, love, all I can say is that I never met someone like you, someone worth to call my girlfriend."

"I am flattered", she grinned.

"You better be. I still have to deal with certain things", he muttered, searching his cell in his trousers. He pulled it out and dialled a number, pressing the cell to his ear.

Rory watched him until she felt her own cell vibrate in her purse. She raised an eyebrow and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Roger", Finn said.

"Um, hi Felicity", she replied, chuckling.

"Hold on", he said and covered the phone, before leaning down to Rory. "I have to take this call, love", he said, his voice as serious as possible.

She nodded, trying to hide a laugh.

"Alright, I'm back. So, listen, Roger, I have to ask you a favour", Finn said into his phone, his hand squeezing Rory's a little.

"Sure. Shoot", Rory replied into her phone.

"I have to go to my dorm before we can have lunch. And I need you to help me."

"Um, how?"

"Stay with me", he just said, before turning to Rory, raising their entwined hands and kissed the back of her hand.

Rory looked at him before she noticed that they have reached his dorm building. She nodded again.

"I'll be with you", she replied into her phone, watching how Finn let go of her hand and walked apparently very uneasy into the building.

"You're still with me, love?", she heard his voice in her cell when he was out of sight.

"Still here", she replied.

"Alright, listen. We'll meet in front of the dining hall. Just go ahead. This won't take long. I hope."

"I'll do that. What do you need my help for now?", she asked, walking past his dorm building towards hers.

"Just stay with me."

"Are you afraid of entering your dorm?"

"I am about to shit my pants, love", he said and she could just picture him smirk.

"Don't panic, he already beat you up, he won't do it again!", she tried to calm him nevertheless, just passing by a coffee stand. She then reconsidered and got in line to buy a coffee.

"I'd love to believe you", she heard him say. "So I'm at the door now", he whispered.

"Well, open it", she whispered back, ignoring the stares around her.

"I can't!", he whispered again.

"You can, just put the key into the hole and turn it around, a little push to the door and ta-da, it's open. Very easy, Fi- Felicity!"

She heard how he did as she has said. Then there was silence. She listened closely, before it was her turn to order, she covered the phone and ordered a big coffee. She paid the salesman and left the line, picking up her phone again. There was still silence.

"Um, Finn?", she whispered, looking around. "Finn", she repeated, hissing his name.

"Yes, love?"

"Damn it, can you say something? I thought he had eaten you in one piece or had ripped your tongue out or anything!"

"Now you have an imagination", he chuckled.

"Well, where are you?"

"I'm in my room, trying to undress with my phone on my ear wouldn't work, so I put you aside."

"Oh! And I've already been neglected!", she mocked, trying to sound disappointed, while walking and sipping on her coffee.

After she had put down her coffee, she suddenly heard him gasp.

"Finn?", she hissed. "You okay?"

"Mhm", he replied, sounding far away.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing", he said, his voice muffled.

"Tell me!"

"I – I touched my nose", she heard him whine.

She tilted her head, smiling sympathetically into the phone. "Aww, poor, poor Felicity!", she said in her sweetest voice. "Will you recover or shall I come over and nurse you?"

"I'll keep that in mind for later, love", he said, his voice still sounding rather muffled, yet she knew that he was grinning.

"So, you're dressed yet?"

"No, darling, I decided to accompany you to lunch naked."

"Mhm, that would be a nice sight", she mocked. "I bet we'll get the best table for that. Anyhow, are you still in your dorm? Nothing happened?"

"Nothing happened. Colin was snoring in his room and no sight whatsoever of Logan."

"Nice", she just said and turned around a corner. "So where are you?"

"Right here", she heard him say, before a hand grabbed her and pulled her into the nearest doorframe.

She found herself pressed against Finn who was hiding in the doorframe, wearing a new shirt and a wide grin on his lips. "Hey, love", he whispered and leant in to kiss her. He then turned his head a little and spoke into his phone again. "Sorry, I have to hang up now", he said.

"Alright, I'll see you soon", Rory replied and they both lowered their phones. "Hi", she then said to Finn and kissed him again.

He pulled his arms around her and deepened the kiss, playing with her hair.

"You know, we don't have to hide anymore", she whispered against his cheek when his lips moved to her neck.

"I know", he whispered back. "But where's the fun in that?"

"Wait!", she interrupted him by putting her hands on his shoulders and pushing him away gently. "So you won't make out with me in public?"

He watched her, licking his lips.

"Well, are you? I mean, come on, we don't have to hide anymore. Logan knows, Paris knows, my mother knows, they all know it eventually. It's out, Finn. You are not my dirty little secret anymore", she said, tilting her head. "You are more than that now…", she added in a low voice.

He threw her a smile and straightened up, before pushing past her, grabbing her hand. He then dragged her out of the doorframe on the middle of the corridor, with people passing by, throwing them confused looks. He pulled her towards him, his arms around her waist. She looked around a little taken aback.

"'This public enough for you, love?"

She bit her lip and raised an eyebrow. "What have I done", she laughed, her free hand on his chest.

"You met me" he said, before he bent down to kiss her rather passionately. He even twirled her around and made her lean away from him as if they were waltzing through the corridor. Rory began to ignore the staring crowds and just looked at Finn. Their eyes met and soon after, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along the corridor, with Rory almost spilling the coffee she was still holding.

"Finn, not so fast", she laughed, when he suddenly stopped and she ran into him, almost knocking him over. She looked around him and what she saw made her frown.

"Well, well, look, the new couple, heavily enjoying themselves", Logan said, his arms crossed over his chest.

Rory walked around Finn and glared at him. As she looked past Logan she saw a girl hiding behind him. "Oh look, you already found yourself another one. Looks like we're even", she said through clenched teeth, eyeing Logan.

"Stay out of this, Ace", he said – causing her jaw to drop.

Did he remember their talk from this morning? It seemed as if nothing happened. What was wrong with him? Rory opened her mouth - to be interrupted by Logan.

"So, Finn", Logan addressed him, while Rory looked up to Finn who seemed to try his best to remain calm. "How are you?"

Rory opened her mouth again. "Are you serious?", she blurted out, staring at Logan.

"Ace, this man has his own mouth."

"Do not ever call me Ace again, okay? I've had enough of you! You are such an ass!" With that she let go of Finn's hand and stormed away to the dining hall, feeling rather guilty about leaving Finn behind.

* * *

Several moments later, Finn dropped opposite her on a chair in the dining hall. 

"I am so sorry", she said the moment he looked at her.

"It's fine, love", he said, stretching his arms. "We talked."

"And?"

"It's fine."

"So?"

"It's –"

"Don't say it's fine. Tell me what he said."

"It's fine", he grinned.

"Alright, he had turned you into a robot knowing only one sentence – or a parrot, shall I call you Polly from now on?"

Finn leant over the table and kissed Rory on the cheek.

"He has to deal with this situation, but he's fine with it now. You made your choice", he said, leaning back in his chair, with his arms crossed behind his head.

"Wow", she said, raising an eyebrow. "So now we have his blessing, huh?"

"You know I'm glad about that, so I don't have to be afraid of being murdered in my sleep anymore!"

"But you told me that would be a nice way to die", Rory grinned.

"Well, now I want to live a few years longer."

"I wonder why that is", she said, smiling, watching him getting up from his chair, walking around to kneel beside her.

"So, love, I see you had lunch. How about I take you out now? Chinese food?"

"You are unbelievable" she smirked and kissed him. "But I'm afraid I have a class after lunch. How about dinner?"

"Dinner it is."

"Oh, wait. Is today Friday?"

"Yes, love. You are so getting a watch and a calendar for your birthday!"

She smirked, before rummaging through her purse. "Damn! I have to go to Friday night dinner with my grandparents tonight!"

"Can't you cancel it?"

"No, they would just let me go if I'm deadly sick."

"I could come with you", he just said, but she already pushed away her chair and got up, almost knocking him over. He stood up as well and watched her, before she finally paused for a second to stare at him.

"What?"

"I could come with you."

"Where to?"

"To your grandparents, so we still can have dinner together."

"What?", she asked again, glaring at him.

He just sighed.

"Don't get me wrong, wow, this is really sweet, Finn, but no, you wouldn't want to have dinner with my grandparents."

"Why not?"

"They are awful and every time I bring a boy over, they just attack him. I –"

"Rory, I know your grandparents because they know my parents and I was at your grandparents' house before, remember?"

She remembered and she could clearly recall the green tie he had been wearing that night. "You don't want to do this."

"I want to be with you, love", he whispered, smirking.

She looked up at him and couldn't help but smile. Shaking her head slightly, she grabbed his hand and led him out of the dining hall, heading to her dorm. Once they reached it, she unlocked the door and gently made him sit down on the couch.

"Stay right here", she told him after she had bent down to kiss him.

He watched her with a puzzled look on his face as she vanished into her room.

* * *

"So he really said he wanted to go?", Lorelai's voice rang in Rory's ear. 

She was sitting on her bed, her legs crossed, her cell on her ear.

"Yes and he sounded so sincere!"

"Well, then why aren't you taking him to Eva and –"

"Stop calling them that", Rory smirked. "And I don't know… what if they attack him or anything? And beside, it's still so fresh, we're only dating for a week."

"How serious are you about him?"

Rory considered that question. It didn't take her long to choose the right answer. "Very."

"Then off to Hellville!", Lorelai laughed. "If it's not going to work you can blame him for wanting to see your grandparents. Ooh, or you blame them; that would be more fun!"

"I'll think about it", Rory said, standing up from bed, walking to her door. "Thanks, mom."

"Anytime, honey."

Rory opened the door and watched Finn sitting on the couch, playing with some of Paris's handiworks. Chuckling she said goodbye to her mother and walked over to him, pulling her arms around his neck from behind the couch.

"I wouldn't touch that", she whispered into his ear. "Paris will kill you."

"But you know that I like to play with fire, love", he replied, turning his head.

"And that's why we're going to Hellville tonight", she said.

"Hellville?"

"My mother's name for my grandparents house."

"I see", he grinned. "So we're going, huh?"

"Yes", she said and leant against the back of the couch, her hands running over his chest.

"You're sure?"

"As long as you are."

"I am."

"Then I am too."

"Lovely", he said and turned his head a little more to kiss her.

"Now I have to go to my class."

"When shall I pick you up?"

"Around 6 would be perfect", she smiled against his cheek.

"Around 6 it is", he said.

"You are going to be a great boyfriend, you know that?"

"Thank you for the feedback, love", he grinned and kissed her again.

* * *

Around six p.m., Rory sat on her bed, slipping into her shoes, when she heard a chain of knocking sounds on her door. She got up and opened the door to see Finn leaning against the doorframe, his knuckles still in the air. 

"Oh, love, you disturbed me playing We Will Rock You on your door."

She grinned. "I'm sorry! I'll never again stand between you and your talent", she chuckled, grabbing his hand, pulling him inside.

"I can only see one way you're repaying me, love", he said, before he pulled her into a tight embrace, kissing her hungrily.

"Finn!", she laughed as he gnawed on her earlobe.

He let go of her and grinned. "So, ready to go to Hellville?", he asked.

"Sort of", she replied, before her gaze fell onto his clothes. "Wow! Will you look at that?", she gasped and examined his tuxedo. "Ooh and I love the tie!", she added, stroking over the red fabric.

"Thank you", he said, watching her over. "And I can say, you look adorable tonight as well", he added, placing his hands on her hips, making her move left and right, watching the skirt of her dark-red dress flow to the movements.

"Thanks", she whispered and cupped his face. "Hey, the cute band-aid is gone!"

"Well, I couldn't go to your grandparents with that thing on my nose. They would think I'm only hanging around bars, getting awfully drunk and then fighting about nothing at all!"

"But aren't you, except for the last part?", she laughed.

He tilted his head smirking. "You better not mention that in front of your grandparents!"

She stuck out her tongue to him and he pursed his lips, before he grabbed her and tickled her, until she, squealing loudly, raised her hands in surrender, begging for his mercy. He let go of her and placed his hands on the lower part of her back, locking eyes with her.

"You look beautiful", he whispered, tilting his head. "And I still can't believe this."

"Me neither", she muttered, putting her hands on his chest, feeling his heart beat behind the fabric of his tux.

"You ready to go?"

She nodded and lowered her hands, grabbing his, hooking her fingers into his.

"Oh dear", she laughed, looking down at the nail polish on his fingernails.

He just shrugged, grinning. "Don't ask, love."

"I would never dare", she replied, leaning up to kiss him. "I like this about you, my little Mystery Man."

He smirked at the nickname she gave him. "So how do I call you from now on?"

"Be creative", she suggested.

"Hmmm", he said, thinking with his forehead furrowed. "What about – no. But maybe – ah, better not. And –"

"Oh stop that, I can't stand that!", she shrieked, a grin on her face. "Don't begin saying something and don't finish. My mother does the same. I hate that!"

"And I don't want you to hate me, love", he winked. "My lovely Tequila Girl!"

"Oh no, you can't call me that", she laughed. "At least not in front of my grandparents."

"Speaking of which", he said, looking at his watch.

"Oh dear, let's go", she said, grabbing her purse and pulling Finn after her out of her dorm, her heels echoing through the halls.

Rory pulled her car onto the place in front of her grandparents' house and killed the engine, staring up at the large, dark house. Sighing, she turned to Finn. He watched her with a smile.

"Ready?", she asked.

"If you are."

She kept staring at the house.

"Are you ready?"

"I don't know."

"Let's find out", he said, opened his door and got out.

Rory didn't move, until Finn opened her door and leant nearer to kiss her on the cheek. She woke up slightly and turned her head to him.

"Come on, Mystery Man will save you from the monsters of Hellville", he said with a grin.

She replied his grin and kissed him quickly, before getting out, hooking her fingers into his as they walked towards the front door.

"They do know I'm coming, right?"

She nodded. "I called them."

"So they know I am coming."

She turned her head. "Yes, they know you are coming."

"And who am I?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"What did you tell them?"

"I said I'm bringing over a special friend."

"Special friend?", he repeated with a frown.

"I didn't want to tell them over the phone."

"I see", he said and looked at the door again. "Nice door. Do you think we'll ever see the other side?"

"We have to ring for that."

"So let's ring."

"I can't reach the bell."

"You're standing closer."

"My arm's not long enough."

"Rory?"

"Finn?"

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you so nervous about this dinner? Do you think I won't behave or tell dirty stories or get drunk and embarrass you?"

"Are you?", she asked, looking at him.

"Oh, love, now I am really hurt", he said, putting his free hand on his heart. "I would never dare to embarrass you!"

"I want to believe that."

"You know, I read somewhere, that, being in a relationship, the boyfriend and girlfriend have to trust each other."

"I so want to borrow that book", she grinned. "Alright, I am sorry that I even assumed you of embarrassing me. I know you won't, I believe you, I'm just –"

"What, love?"

"Maybe they won't approve you."

"That's what you fear?"

"Sort of."

"So what? What if they won't approve? Do we have to break up then?"

"No! No, of course not."

"So what?"

She watched him, how he looked at her, in his black tux and the red tie, and his fingers hooked into hers, with his fingernails covered by shattered nail polish. She had never before seen someone like him, he was special and he always surprised her.

"You're right, so what!", she said and leant up to kiss him.

With that she bent forwards to ring the bell.

* * *

After the maid had opened, they walked into the living room, their hands still entwined. Emily and Richard Gilmore sat each in a chair and looked up at they approached. 

"Rory", Emily smiled and got up to greet her granddaughter.

"Hello, grandma, hi, grandpa", she smiled at them. "This is Finn", she said, turning her head to Finn.

"Good evening Mr and Mrs Gilmore", he said and again Rory was surprised.

He let go of her hand and moved towards Richard and Emily to shake their hands. They smiled at him and then watched how Rory and Finn sat down on the couch. Finn then casually grabbed Rory's hand again, causing Rory to throw him a smile.

"So this is your special friend, Rory", her grandfather said, looking at Finn.

"Yes", she replied. "My boyfriend, grandpa."

"You are friends with Logan Huntzberger, is that right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Fine friend, you have there", Richard continued, before he got up. Rory and Finn exchanged short glances. "Do you like anything to drink?"

Rory watched Finn. "A soda for me, grandpa."

"And a scotch, please, if that's possible."

"It is. Good taste, my boy", her grandfather said, making their drinks.

Now it was Emily's turn.

"So, Finn." She pronounced his name rather carefully. "You are going to Yale as well?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm in my junior year."

"I would have guessed you were older", Emily said, watching him closely, while Rory squeezed his hand a little. "I thought you were at least two years older than Rory."

"Well, I am", Finn replied. "I just began college a little later."

"I see."

"So you are from Australia, am I hearing that right?"

It was Richard's turn again. He handed out their drinks and sat down again.

"Yes, sir", Finn nodded.

"Since when are you here?"

"I moved here when I was sixteen, sir. My father is a pilot in the Royal Navy."

"And your mother is in the DAR, am I right?", Emily chimed in.

"Of course, Ma'am."

The evening continued with more questioning and answering, and when the maid announced that dinner was ready, Rory shot Finn a sympathetic smile, mouthing: "I am so sorry!" He just nodded and threw her a smile. They sat down next to each other on the table, facing the empty plates in front of them. Rory used the moment that Richard and Emily settled down to lean closer to Finn.

"We leave right after dessert", she whispered. "I guess Tequila Girl has to save you today."

He grinned at her, before straightening himself again when the salad was put onto their plates. They ate more of less silently. And after a little more small talk, Rory and Finn stood by the door, ready to leave.

"Thank you for this lovely dinner, Mrs Gilmore", Finn just said, shaking her hand. "It was delicious."

"Take care, son", Richard said when Finn shook his hand.

Finn nodded, smiling. "Good night, sir."

"Good night, grandpa, grandma", Rory said and pulled Finn gently after her through the open door.

Once the door had closed behind them, Rory pulled her arms around Finn's neck.

"Oh my god! Was that awful or what?", she muttered against him.

"I expected worse things to happen, love", he replied, causing her to stare at him.

"But I'm still sorry they asked you so much", she whispered, leaning against him.

"It's alright, darling."

"I don't understand why you are so calm."

"Well, I just answered their questions. What's the big deal?"

"And apparently they liked you."

"Apparently."

"This is odd."

"Why's that?"

"Because you are not the type of guy they want to be at their granddaughter's side."

"Not?"

"No, you are –"

"Hmm?"

"Yes, I don't care what you are for them. For me", she began, locking eyes with him. "For me you are special."

"Right back at you", he muttered, before leaning in to kiss her.

They stumbled back to Rory's car, still holding and kissing each other. Rory unlocked the doors and they almost fell into the car, if Rory hadn't pushed Finn away in time.

"Not here", she mouthed and shoved him around the car to the passenger door. He got inside unwillingly, still holding her hands, kissing her passionately. She backed up after a while and closed his door before she got in on her side, starting the engine. His hand wandered over her knee to her thigh, but Rory just giggled and threw him a grin while driving off her grandparents' front yard.

"Where are we going?"

"To a better place", she replied, her eyes on the road.

"But I'm too young to die", he whined.

"You don't have to die for this", she smirked, shooting a quick glance at her.

"But where is this better place?"

"Right here", she just said, pointing at the entrance sign of Stars Hollow.

"What's Stars Hollow?"

"You are about to discover that. You survived the dinner with my grandparents' so amazingly, so you can easily cope with my mother as well."

Finn just stared at her. "Your mother?"

Rory drove onto another front yard and parked right behind a jeep. She then turned to Finn and smiled. "Welcome to my life."

* * *

_**A/N:** Chapter 9 and yes, I'll write more, this story is not finished yet! Don't worry!_

_Again, I feel so overwhelmed by all these reviews, this is my first fanfiction that has so many reviews, thank you everyone so very much, I'm always dancing around when I see a new review. THANK YOU! You guys rock!_

_**Disclaimer**: Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, chapter titles to The All-American Rejects._


	10. Top Of The World

**Dirty Little Secret**

**Chapter 10 - Top Of The World**

Finn watched Rory as she got her cell phone out and dialled a number, before holding the phone to her ear. She turned to him and threw him a smile. He replied it a little shyly.

"Hey, mom", she just said, looking towards the house.

"Ooh, the daughter again", Lorelai replied, sounding a little sleepy.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?", she asked, watching how a light was lit in her mother's bedroom.

"No, hun, I was lying awake waiting just for you to call."

"Perfect", Rory smiled and turned to Finn again. "Because you've got visitors."

"Visitor_s_?", Lorelai asked, stressing the s.

"Yep", Rory said and motioned Finn to get out with her. She locked the doors and took his hand, before they walked over to the front door.

"Where are you? And with who –"

"Just open the door."

"The – what?"

After a few seconds, the door opened and a rather surprised looking Lorelai greeted them.

"Hello, mom", Rory said with a smile.

"Well, hi, kiddo. How nice I never taught you to come earlier", Lorelai said with a grin. "Ooh and hi there", she addressed Finn who shot her a smile.

"Mom, this is Finn", Rory said and turned to Finn, holding his hand tightly.

"Oh the infamous Finn", Lorelai said, tilting her head to watch Finn over.

"Infamous?", Finn asked, turning to Rory with a grin.

"Infamous", she replied and smirked.

"It's nice to meet you, Ms Gilmore", he said and reached out a hand to shake Lorelai's, who took it with a grin.

"Leave the Miss outside, boy", she laughed. "It's Lorelai."

"He still has this Miss Manners cloud around him, dinner certainly took its toll on him", Rory grinned and poked Finn into his side.

"Ooh, so how was dinner in Hellville?"

"They liked him."

"Hmm, that might be a bad sign", Lorelai mocked.

"I considered that myself", Rory agreed.

Finn watched from one Gilmore girl to the other, frowning.

"Never mind", Rory said and leant up to kiss his cheek.

"Well, come on in", Lorelai then said and opened the door wider.

They gathered in the living room.

"So", Lorelai said, looking at her daughter and her boyfriend. "How did you plan to celebrate your survival of Friday night's dinner?"

"I thought about movie night", Rory suggested.

"Always a good one", Lorelai said and walked over to a shelf whilst Rory and Finn sat down on the couch. "What's it going to be?"

"Any suggestions?", Rory turned to Finn who still looked a little uneasy. She tilted her head and made a face at him, her hand playing with his fingers. He replied her gesture and stuck out his tongue at her, before they both began laughing.

"Aww, young love! Now that's cute", Lorelai said, causing them to bite their tongues, still giggling at each other. "Alright, what about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Not as good as the original but it has Johnny Depp and that says everything!"

"It does!", Rory agreed, getting up after kissing Finn quickly. "I'll get the chocolate!"

"And I'll order food!", Lorelai said and they both vanished into different directions, leaving Finn alone on the couch.

"And I'll wait right here", he told the pillow next to him in a serious voice.

* * *

The night went on with a lot of laughing, movie quoting and chocolate eating. When the TV was blank again, Lorelai was already half-sleeping in an armchair, whilst Rory cuddled against Finn who had his arm around her and his head on her shoulder. She turned her head to him and smiled. He replied her smile and moved closer to kiss her gently. She hugged him tighter and snuggled against his chest. 

"This was nice", she whispered.

"It was, your mom is cool", he replied.

"She is", Rory nodded.

"Thanks for inviting me into your world", he said barely audible into her shoulder.

"Oh, mister, don't think this was everything my world has to offer", Rory said against his chest.

"There's more?", he asked, raising his head to look at her in faked disbelief, before he broke into a wide grin. She grinned back at him and kissed him with her hands on his cheeks.

"Ooh, get a room", they heard Lorelai mumble from the other end of the room.

They let go of each other and looked at her.

"Mom, you look tired. You better go to bed", Rory suggested.

"Yes, mother", Lorelai mocked and got up clumsily. "You just want to get rid of me, right?"

"You caught me", Rory laughed.

"Well, you two better keep it down, I don't want to hear anything", Lorelai said and winked, before getting up the stairs.

"Good night, mom!", Rory yelled after her.

"'Night Lorelai", Finn added.

"Night", they heard Lorelai's voice from upstairs before her bedroom door closed noisily.

It was then that Finn faced Rory and smiled at her. She yawned heavily, putting her hands on her mouth with her eyebrows raised.

"Look who's tired as well", Finn mocked. "I can't remember seeing you yawn ever before!"

"That's because you fall asleep hours before I do", she replied, grinning.

"You might have a point in that", he replied, smirking at her.

She cuddled against him and closed her eyes. "This was a long day", she whispered.

He looked at his watch and yawned as well. He then turned to Rory, placing his hands on her cheeks. She watched him.

"Happy one week's anniversary, love", he said with a wide smile.

"Wow, this week seemed like forever", Rory said. "And I can say, it's been the best week I've ever had."

"Really? Why, thank you", he grinned and kissed her.

"Even though there were things that I'd like to forget… the whole Logan-thing is not what I want to remember…"

"Forget him", Finn whispered and kissed her again.

"Consider him forgotten", she then said and replied his kiss, pulling her arms around his neck, her fingers running through his hair. He pushed her gently into the cushions, lying on top of her, his hands running along the sides of her body. He continued kissing her, his lips moving along her yaw line to her neck.

"Finn, not here", she giggled, but when she tried to lift up his body, she noticed that he was already asleep. She sighed deeply and kissed his hair, pulling her arms around him, his head resting on her chest, his snoring ringing in her ears as she closed her eyes and breathed in his scent, his warmth putting her to sleep immediately.

* * *

Rory awoke the next morning, feeling herself squeezed against the back of the couch by Finn's body, who had one arm around her, the other one was dangling on the ground, his body half covering hers. She inhaled deeply, feeling the first sunbeams dancing around the living room. She tried to push Finn away gently without him noticing – but she ended up knocking him off the couch, trying to get up. 

He landed on the floor with a groan, with Rory looking down at him with her eyes wide. He lay on his face – but continued sleeping. She grinned and climbed over him to go into the kitchen. She found her mother by the coffee machine.

"Morning, hun", Lorelai greeted her, pouring water in the machine.

"Ah, coffee. You can read thoughts", Rory said and got out two mugs from the shelves.

"No, I implanted you these thoughts", Lorelai grinned. "So of course I know how your mind works."

Rory smirked at her and sat down at the table, looking past her mother into the living room where Finn was still lying on the floor.

"What was that noise a minute ago?"

"Finn", Rory answered. "I pushed him off the couch."

"Oh, you've already had enough of him?"

Rory giggled. "No, I still like him very much – he was just in the way."

"I see and you better be not in the way of Rory Gilmore", Lorelai replied, sitting down opposite her daughter, waiting for the coffee to get ready.

They looked at each other for a while.

"So", Lorelai said after a while.

"So."

"So…"

"So?"

"So –"

"I begin to hate this word."

"Is so a word?"

"Of course!"

"But I isn't a word, it's a letter!"

"So?"

"Hah!"

"Mom", Rory laughed.

"Anyhow, he's cute", Lorelai changed the topic abruptly.

"Yes, he is", Rory agreed.

"And he treats you right?"

"Yes he does, he is perfect."

"Perfect, huh?"

"He is funny, he makes me laugh, we can talk about everything and anything, he's sweet – and I never assumed him to be."

"Because he's one of Logan's friends."

"Exactly. Oh, did I tell you that Logan kicked his ass?"

"What?", Lorelai blurted out. "Hmm, no, that must have slipped your mind."

"Sorry, there were so many things happening the last days. Anyway, Logan found us making out in my room and beat the crap out of Finn. He was sent to hospital with his nose broken and other things."

"Ooh, I never liked this Logan!"

"Neither do I", Rory whispered. "Oh, coffee's ready!", she said and got up to pour the hot liquid into the two mugs. Just when she sat down again, shooting a glance into the living room, she noticed that the floor was empty. No more Finn lying on the ground. She jerked a head a little wider before she saw Finn coming towards them, stumbling like a drunk. She grinned at him and greeted him with a kiss, leading him to the table where he sat down between Lorelai and Rory.

"I was lying on the ground", he mumbled, looking at Rory rather sleepily, with his hair standing up into every direction and his white shirt wrinkled and half-unbuttoned, one end plugged into his trousers, the other hanging over his belt. "Why was I lying on the ground?"

Rory just grinned at him and leant over to kiss his cheek. "Coffee, Finn?"

He nodded, before his gaze fell onto Lorelai. "Have I met you yet?", he muttered.

Lorelai exchanged a glance with Rory who just smiled knowingly.

"Finn? Finn, eyes to me", Rory said, making him look at her by snapping her fingers. "Let's have breakfast!"

"Off to Luke's!", Lorelai said, gulped down her coffee and got up, leaving the kitchen.

Rory helped Finn up and leant him against the wall next to her room door. He watched her with his eyes half-closed, while she buttoned his shirt and plugged it into his trousers, rolling up his sleeves as well.

"Now we can present you to the world again", she laughed after running her fingers trough his hair, trying to flatten it a little.

"Mhm", was all he managed to say.

"Stay here, okay? I'll just change", she said and vanished into her room.

Moments later, Finn had already collapsed to the ground again. Rory picked him up, pulling one arm around his waist and leaving the house with him.

* * *

"What's with him?", Luke just asked, as he brought them pancakes and coffee, pointing at Finn, whose head was lying on the table. 

Rory giggled and patted Finn's head gently. "It's just not his time of day", she said to Luke.

"As long as he doesn't snore", Luke grumbled, before shooting a glance at Lorelai who smiled at him, holding her coffee mug.

"Meet the boyfriend", she said, pointing at Finn with Rory watching them.

Luke just raised an eyebrow and then leant down to kiss Lorelai hello. "Morning", he said and smiled at her. She replied his smile and watched him go back to the counter.

Rory still patted Finn's head, her fingers wandering over his hair towards his neck.

"You're giving me a headache if you continue to waltz around my head, love", she heard him mumble.

She put her head on the table too and looked at him. Their gazes met.

"You said something, mumbly?", she mouthed.

"Mhm hmmmm", he replied, breaking into a tired grin.

"Mhmmm hm!", she answered, before moving closer to kiss him quickly.

They then heard someone clearing their throat. Rory raised her head and even Finn sat up straighter, blinking heavily, wiping his eyes sleepily.

They both faced Luke, who looked at them with his eyebrows raised. "No kissing on the tables!", he simply stated.

Rory blushed heavily. "Sorry, Luke", she said and looked away at Finn who met her gaze grinning.

Luke went away, with Lorelai following him, sitting down at the counter, leaving Rory and Finn alone at the table.

Rory raised her coffee cup to her lips. "Breakfast?", she asked over to top of it, motioning to the plates in front of them.

Finn just nodded and grabbed the nearest plate with pancakes. Rory watched him giggling, how he picked one of the pancakes with his fork and stuffed it into his mouth – wholly. He then swallowed it loudly, before grinning at Rory widely. She poked him playfully, still giggling. He got hold of her hand and made her pick up her fork, jamming it into the stack of pancakes. She let him feed her, heavily chewing on the last pancake.

When someone approached their table, she almost choked, with Finn patting her back, smiling sympathetically, before they both looked up.

"Sorry to interrupt", Lorelai grinned at them.

"It's fine", Rory said, swallowing the last bit of her pancake, with Finn wiping away some syrup from the corner of her mouth. She immediately shot him a glance.

"Are you staying over the weekend?", her mother asked. "Or are you heading back to Yale? I'd like to know because if you do stay, I have to go shopping –"

"Always looking for a reason", Rory giggled. She then looked at Finn who just shrugged. "I guess we're staying at least today. Right?", she addressed Finn who nodded. "I want to show Finn Stars Hollow."

"Say hi to Kirk for me", Lorelai winked and waved them goodbye, before leaving Luke's with a huge coffee cup in her hands.

"Who's Kirk?"

"You'll see", Rory grinned and kissed him. "Mhm, you taste good this morning."

"I wonder if they have this syrup in Yale too", he smirked. "Might come in handy some day – or night!"

"Finn!"

"Rory!", he mocked, imitating her tone, before leaning towards her, kissing her earlobe.

"Come on", she then said, gulping down her coffee, while he ate another pancake. "Let's go!"

"Right now?", he asked with his mouth full of pancakes.

"Now, now, have you forgotten about Miss Manners?"

"Who?"

"Good boy", Rory laughed and patted his arm. "Now, up, up! Stars Hollow isn't waiting!"

"It's not? Huh. I'm already disappointed, love", he grinned, while following her outside.

She grabbed his hand and cuddled against his arm, looking up at him. "You ready?"

"Ready, coach!", he replied, saluting her with his free hand.

"Then off we go!"

* * *

Rory showed him the gazebo, the shops, the book store, Doose's market, Kim's Antiques and and and. By the time of noon, they sat down on a bench next to the gazebo, Finn's head on Rory's shoulder. 

"I'm tired", he said.

"Too much culture?"

"Too much Kirk", he replied. "Was that guy chasing us? We've seen him in every store you showed me."

"Kirk just has a lot of jobs", Rory giggled.

"He's weird", Finn said.

"He is and sometimes I actually think there is more than one Kirk."

"Well, at least he fits into this town", Finn replied, grinning.

"Was it that bad?"

"Not bad, love, just weird and weird is nice. One reason why I can't get enough of you", he added, pulling her closer to him.

She giggled. "Interesting how you think of me!"

"It is, isn't it?"

She turned around and watched him. "You really like me?"

He raised an eyebrow. "No, darling, I just love to waste my time."

She slapped his chest playfully. "Seriously."

"Seriously."

"No, seriously!"

"Seriously, I like you", he said, smiling.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously, love", he repeated, leaning in to close his lips around hers.

She pulled her knees up on the bench and sat on them next to him, her hands cupping his face, deepening the kiss, while he pulled his arms around her, holding her closely. Their lips parted after a while, whilst their faces remained inches away from each other. They locked eyes, before Rory sighed deeply and planted a quick kiss on Finn's nose.

"Ah!", he immediately gasped, his eyes wide and watering. "Ow!"

"Oh god!", she said and placed her hands on her mouth. "Finn, I am sorry! Does it still hurt that much?"

He just nodded, his vision blurred by tears of pain.

"Aww, poor you", she mouthed and kissed his cheeks. "Forgive me."

"Hmm."

"Will you forgive me?", she asked, stroking his chin.

"Mhm."

"Please forgive me!"

"I'll have to think about that…", he whispered, tilting his head, carefully poking the surroundings of his nose with his index finger.

"Pleeeeease?", she continued.

He threw her a grin and put his hands around her face. "I want revenge, love."

Her eyes widened as he grabbed her waist and started to tickle her. She couldn't help but giggle, struggling as he bent over to press her to the bench, his fingers causing her eyes to water.

"Finn, please! Stop", she cried, laughing helplessly.

"Revenge, love", he just said, grinning widely. "Sweet revenge!"

He continued tickling her until they heard several voices complaining about them occupying the bench.

"Get a room!", was the loudest voice amongst them.

Finn looked up for a second, whilst Rory used his distraction to roll away from underneath him, quickly grabbing his hand as soon as she was on her feet, dragging him along with her, completely ignoring the surprised gazes of Ms Patty and Co.

They ran around town hand in hand, finally reaching a back yard where they pressed each other against the wall breathlessly. Finn watched Rory with his mouth open, as did Rory. They soon moved closer to each other, Rory's arms around his neck, his around her waist. Their lips met, their tongues fought, their hands held. Soon after Rory had her legs wrapped around his waist, leaning against the wall, kissing him hungrily, while his hands held the lower part of her back, her fingers messing with his hair.

They parted after what seemed endless moments, panting heavily.

Their gazes met, as did their smiles.

"We will so be the gossip of tomorrow", Rory mouthed.

"Only of tomorrow? Now I'm truly disappointed of the small town news spreading system!"

"The small town news spreading system?", Rory laughed.

"Or how do you call it here?"

"Ms Patty" she replied. "And apparently she saw us by the gazebo so tomorrow everyone will know that Rory Gilmore found herself a new man."

"Now that's news I'd be interested in", he said with a grin.

"Only if they get your name right."

"Maybe we should go back and give them a little encore?"

"Hmm, I have to say, I liked the feeling of being watched."

"Now who's dirty?", he grinned.

"No", she laughed. "I mean the feeling of being caught. It felt nice. Like thousand butterflies…"

"Speaking of which" Finn said, rummaging through the pockets of his trousers, with Rory still having her legs wrapped around his waist. Finn then pulled out a little black box, which he handed to Rory with a big smirk.

"What is this?", she asked, taking the box carefully.

"Open it."

She did and what she saw made her stare. "Oh my –"

"Do you like it?"

"I love it", she said, pulling out a small watch whose thin bracelet was made of silver butterflies chained together by their wings. After closing the bracelet watch around her wrist, she looked up at Finn, her eyes sparkling. "And I love you."

He smiled at her and kissed her deeply, before he pushed off the wall and carried her onto the open street again. She shot him a glare, giggling as he made a face at her, before letting go of his waist, jumping to her feet again. Her arms closed around his neck as she tiptoed in front of him, kissing him passionately, completely shutting out everyone's stares.

She didn't know how he did it – but when she was with Finn she didn't care about anything else. She had thought, once she called him her boyfriend, she would have to change him. But now it seemed as if he was changing her. And again, she didn't mind.

* * *

_**A/N:** Chapter 10 and sadly I have to announce that the next chapter will be the last chapter. There's going to be a "several months later" and then this story will be completed. Wow, my very first completed fanfiction, I am so proud and I'm even prouder that I did this in a little more than a week. Le sigh. And this is mostly because yu guys like my story so much, I am so flattered - almost 10K hits and almost 75 previews, this is amazing. THANK YOU EVERYONE. You guys kept me writing!_

_Oh and I almost forgot: A little side **note** for the **last chapter** where I mentioned that Finn's mother is a member of the DAR - which (thanks to __satelliteblues21__ for pointing that out) is only possible if she is American. So, a little explanation to make the story work: Let's say Finn's mother and her parents are originally from America and moved to Australia. There Finn's mother met Finn's father and they lived happily ever after - before moving back to the USA when Finn was 16. So she is still able to be a member of the DAR.  
As for Finn's last name - I was thinking about giving him a name but in the series he doesn't have one (it was never mentioned) and I decided to stay with that. I tried to overplay it but you know there are always situations when someone needs a last name. So yeah, the whole conversation with Richard and Emily is a little off - but that's just a small detail that doesn't concern the story that much I hope._

_**Disclaimer**: Gilmore Girls belong to ASP; titles as usual to The All-American Rejects._


	11. Happy Endings

**_A/N:_** _Beware of very intense (and very long) chapter containing mature content, fights and major surprises_

**

* * *

**

Dirty Little Secret

**Chapter 11 - Happy Endings**

Several months later, Rory was lying in her bed as her cell phone rang through the silence of the room loudly. She turned around groaning and reached over to the night stand next to the bed, shooting a tired glance at the clock that said 4:03 a.m. She answered the phone with a smile.

"Hey, mom", she muttered, leaning back in bed, her head on her pillow.

"21 years ago, I have been lying like I am lying now, with my stomach as big as a bowling ball and my ankles swollen and I was swearing like a sailor on leave. And there I was, in labour, and while some have called it the most meaningful experience of your life, to me it was something more akin to doing the splits on a crate of dynamite. And I was screaming and swearing and being surrounded as I was by a hundred prominent doctors, I'd never thought, that 21 years later, I would actually be grateful to have such a lovely daughter. I am very grateful! Happy birthday, little girl", Lorelai finished her annual speech.

"I love you, mom", Rory whispered back, grinning.

"How do you feel, now that you can do everything in the world?"

"I feel great", she muttered and turned her head to look at the sleeping form of Finn who cuddled against her, his arms around her, his face turned to her, his eyes closed.

"Say hi to Finn for me", Lorelai said.

"Will do", Rory said and stroke his hair gently, before looking around the room. Their room. It's been several months after they first met in the Pub and fell for each other over a bottle of Tequila. Rory was now in her junior, Finn in his senior year. As the new term had started, they had moved into a flat outside the campus, sharing their apartment with Colin.

Rory watched Finn and smiled. These last months were the funniest and happiest months of her life. She cuddled closer to Finn, her cell still pressed to her ear.

"I am happy, mom", she whispered.

"I'm happy you're happy", Lorelai replied. "I'll see you tonight, babe!"

"Bye, mom", Rory said with a smile and flipped her cell shut, putting it back on her night stand.

She moved even closer to Finn, their faces inches away. He then slowly opened his eyes, blinking, before he threw her a smile. She replied his smile and kissed him quickly.

"Mom says hi", she muttered.

"Hi to her and hey to you, love", he whispered, his voice husky. "Happy birthday, darling", he added and rolled a little lazily on top of her, kissing her.

She giggled underneath him.

"Can you believe it's already October?"

"Time flies when one's having fun, darling", he grinned and kissed her neck.

"I can't believe it's October already…"

"I'll certainly buy you a calendar", he said against her skin.

"Can you believe this?"

"I'm not religious, love."

"But can you believe _this_?", she said, locking eyes with him by cupping his face.

"I can't believe this, I am just living it", he replied, planting a kiss on her forehead. "And I'm enjoying it."

She smiled, wrapping the bed sheets tighter around them, closing her eyes as Finn put his head on her chest, breathing against her skin.

* * *

Rory awoke several hours later, inhaling deeply. As she reached her hand out to touch the other side of the bed, she found it empty. She opened her eyes and looked around. The autumn sun already tried to sneak under the curtains into the room. She sat up and grabbed one of Finn's shirts, that was dangling over the end of the bed. She pulled it over and slipped into her jeans, before she looked at her reflection in the mirror that stood in one corner of the room. Giggling at how his shirt almost covered her knees, she opened the door and stepped into the living room – almost making a step backwards. 

The entire room was decorated with butterflies and piles of books and newspaper articles and coloured light bulbs and so many other things she couldn't yet realize. She just thought she had entered another world, a world that looked like the one in her dreams.

She noticed Finn standing by the door to the kitchen, watching her with a grin on his lips.

As soon as she noticed him, she ran towards him and jumped at him, wrapping her legs around his waist, covering his face with kisses. He tumbled backwards and held her tightly.

"Did you do this?", she said after letting go of him, looking into his eyes.

He smirked at her.

"I can't believe you did this – when did you do this? I never saw you up this early", she grinned.

"Well, I'm unbelievable, darling", he replied and kissed her.

"Thank you", she whispered against his lips. "Thank you for being so incredibly sweet!"

"You're welcome, love", he replied, deepening their kiss.

She let go of him after a while and jumped back to her feet, smiling up at him, before she looked around again. Shaking her head, grinning, she grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly.

"This is amazing, I feel like in one of my dreams", she whispered.

"That's what I intended", he grinned.

She looked up at him, smiling. "I love you, Finn", she muttered, pulling her arms around his neck.

They locked eyes for a moment. "You make this whole commitment-thing so much fun", he then said, a smirk on his lips. "It's so easy to be a boyfriend, I'd never expected that."

She kissed him quickly.

"I love you, Rory", he breathed against her lips, causing her to smile even wider.

They soon found themselves caught inside a passionate kiss, before Finn let go of her and led her to the couch. She sat down and watched him forming a pile of presents on the table.

"Ooh, presents!", she squealed.

He laughed and sat down beside her. It was then that the door of their apartment opened and Colin entered.

"Breakfast's here", he called out, heading to the kitchen with a huge bag of rolls and pancakes and other things.

He then sat down at the other side of Rory and grinned at her. She looked at him with a smirk as he said: "Happy birthday, Rory!" and handed her a small present.

"Thanks, Colin", she smiled and kissed his cheek. "This is so sweet of you guys! I never expected living with you two would be so much fun!"

The boys exchanged grins, before Finn turned to Rory.

"Open them", he just stated and pointed at the presents.

Rory nodded, grinning, and took present after present on her lap, unwrapping it, hugging Finn or Colin depending on who gave her what present. After several moments she sat between a pile of new books, several bottles of alcohol, amongst them (dressed with pants, shirt and hat) a bottle of Tequila with a name tag saying 'Julio', a pair of large butterfly wings that Rory immediately put on her back, a couple of large coffee mugs, a bag of coffee beans and other things she could only grin about.

She kissed Finn and smiled at Colin, before she got up.

"Thank you guys, this is so sweet! Thank you, Finny-poo", she added, earning a frown from Finn that she kissed away immediately. "I'll get dressed now and then we have breakfast, alright?"

"Your word, Mistress", Colin said and walked to the kitchen, while Finn followed Rory into their room.

Rory just rummaged through her closet, when Finn closed his arms around her, standing behind her. He kissed her neck and she turned her head around smiling.

"I have to get dressed, hun", she giggled as he gnawed on her earlobe.

"I know, love."

"Well, I can't get dressed when you are hanging on my earlobe", she laughed, moving her head away from him in vain.

"I can help you", he said, his hands slipping under her shirt.

"Thanks for the offer", she chuckled. "But I can do this since I'm three."

"You're sure?" His warm fingers ran over her skin, circling around her breasts, making her inhale sharply.

"Yes, I'm sure", she then said with a smirk and pushed his hands away.

But he merely turned her around by her shoulders and pinned her to the closet, kissing her hungrily. She sighed deeply when he moved his lips to the hollow of her throat, while his hands unbuttoned her shirt, running along the sides of her body. Soon she was messing with his pants while he pushed her shirt off her shoulders. They stumbled towards the bed, each messing with the other's clothes.

Falling onto the bed, they continued kissing, Finn's hands running over Rory's abdomen, Rory's hands wandering over Finn's back. They rolled around in bed, kissing and giggling and hugging and smiling. After several minutes, Rory sat on Finn's lap, her legs wrapped around him, while he held her close to his chest, both their breaths joining in a sweaty embrace. She closed her eyes and bit her lip as he pulled her even closer, her fingernails scratching over his skin. He silently moaned into her ear, kissing her neck, while they both joined in to move to the beatings of their hearts.

They soon fell off each other, both panting heavily. Rory rolled onto her side and faced Finn, who lay on his back, staring at the ceiling with his mouth open and his chest rising and falling quickly. She put her hand on his chest and felt how his heart raced against his ribcage. Moving closer to him, her arm across his stomach, she kissed his chest and laid her head onto it. He pulled his arms around her and kissed her hair, breathing against her neck.

She sighed loudly and raised her head to face him. Throwing him a smile, she sat up in bed and watched him with a grin.

"Thanks for helping me getting undressed", she smirked and drew lines on his abdomen.

"Anytime, love", he said, still a little out of breath, before sitting up, tilting his head.

Rory looked at the door. "I guess Colin is waiting."

"I don't think so", Finn replied, grinning. "He's probably gone already; he hates to wait for us."

"Poor Colin, we really should be working on that", Rory grinned.

"He'll understand", Finn just said and pulled Rory closer, kissing her gently.

"He will", Rory agreed and leant even closer to Finn, deepening the kiss.

"Oh, hell, he has to", he said and pinned Rory to the bed again, before they both kissed each other passionately, once more being lost in each other's touch.

Rory got dressed finally, dragging a fully clothed Finn out of their bedroom to the kitchen, where Colin had prepared the table with knives and forks, coffee mugs and plates filled with rolls and pancakes. Finn poured them coffee and handed a mug to Rory, who sat on the counter connecting the kitchen with the living room. He stood in front of her, sipping his own coffee, and watched her.

She lowered her mug and smiled at him, tilting her head.

He frowned grinning and leant in to kiss her quickly.

Rory poked his nose playfully after they let go of each other again. He wrinkled it, his eyes darting to the top of it.

"I'm glad it's completely fine again", she said. "It would have been less fun with you if it would have been out of place or something."

"I always knew you only like me because of my looks", he mocked, poking her playfully.

She just grinned at him. "Of course! Because I am so superficial!"

"I know you are, love, as am I", he said and took her coffee mug out of her hands, putting it down on the table. "So we are perfect for each other", he stated and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Yes, we are", Rory breathed against his neck.

* * *

It was late afternoon when Rory came from school, having finished her classes for the day. She unlocked the door to her apartment and stepped inside to find it empty. 

"Finn?", she asked, looking around. "Colin?"

No answers whatsoever. She dropped her bag and walked into her room to get changed for her birthday party her mother had been organising for tonight (of which Rory of course didn't know anything). She put on a small black dress with red dots and green stripes on it, slipped into a pair of comfortable yet elegant shoes and then noticed the wings Finn had given her. She turned them in her hands and decided to wear them as well, putting them on with a grin. When she went back to the living room, she grabbed her purse and headed to the door. Just in time for the door bell to ring. She almost gave a start when she saw the person on the other side.

"Logan?", she asked, staring at him. She hadn't seen him for months. He once wrote her a postcard, telling her to greet Finn and that he understood her choice. So much to the proof of life. As he was now standing right in front of her, she couldn't believe her eyes. She still felt a little indifferent when it came to Logan Huntzberger.

"Hello, Ace", he said with a grin.

She stared at him.

"Can I come in?", he asked.

She backed up a little for him to step in. She watched how he sat down on the couch and examined the decoration of the room.

"Nice. I also like those wings of yours", he said, grinning.

Rory closed the door quietly, still watching him. "What do you want, Logan?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Well, talk."

"You see, I don't like this situation."

"What do you mean?"

"This, between us."

"Us? Logan, there is no us anymore. There hasn't been for a long time. I guess, there never has been at all!"

"Look, I just don't like that we're ignoring each other. I mean, you somehow took over my friends, you are living with them now, you are dating Finn, you're living your life and I accept that. I just don't want you to hate me."

"Well, you should have thought about this a while ago. You should have thought about that before you beat the crap out of Finn!"

"I didn't and I'm sorry. Ace, come on, Finn and me made up, why can't we?"

Rory stared at Logan. "You mean we should be friends?"

"Friends and nothing more. You made your choice and your choice fell on Finn."

"Exactly", Rory replied.

"So?"

"So?"

"Do you want to be friends with me?"

"Maybe…", Rory finally replied.

Logan smiled at her and got up again. He looked around once more.

"I like your apartment. Good to see that Finn can finally live out his feminine touch", he grinned.

Rory watched him as he walked over to the door. He opened the door and turned around to her.

"Oh and happy birthday, Ace", he said with a smirk.

She smiled at him and watched him leave. Rory stared at the closed door for a while, before following him outside, heading to her car to drive to Stars Hollow. She arrived at her mother's house and parked behind Lorelai's jeep. Getting out, she walked over to the front door, finding the house empty. She looked through every room but there was no one. The house remained empty.

Rory walked into the kitchen and headed to the refrigerator, getting out a soda when she noticed the note on the door. She ripped it off and read its lines.

"Read the signs."

"Oh how very Final Destination of you", she said and looked around.

There was a bunch of things lying around that could give her a clue. Coat-hangers pointing into various directions, a pile of books flipped open at certain pages with other things lying on top, marking certain lines. But the most noticeable clue was the little petticoat lying on top of a pair of tooth pickers with tiny socks on them on the oven next to a water bottle.

A petticoat that ballerinas wear. Ballerinas, however, can only be… at Miss Patty's!

Rory left the house and quickly walked the distance to Miss Patty's Dance Studio. She almost reached it when suddenly someone covered her eyes from behind. She gasped and grew rigid right away.

"Don't worry, love", she heard a very familiar, yet muffled voice and smiled at the sound of it.

"Finn?"

"Shh!", he said and covered her head with what appeared to be a mask whose usual eye slits were blackened out, before he grabbed her hand and dragged her away with him, into the direction she had come from.

She followed him blindly – well, what else could she have done?

They walked for a while, before Finn suddenly stopped, with Rory running into him.

"Are we there yet?", Rory asked, her voice as muffled as Finn's by now.

"Patience, love", was all he said, before dragging her further.

"Come on, I know there's a surprise party for me, no more secrets!"

They stopped again and this time Rory almost tripped. If it wasn't for Finn holding her by the upper arms. He then placed his hands on her neck, about to pull the mask over her head. She felt him leaning closer.

"Just try to pretend you wouldn't know anything", he whispered and pulled off the mask.

What Rory saw, made her blink several times. She was standing on a deserted piece of land, with a couple of trees surrounding it – and nothing else. She looked around, before she stared at Finn, who just pulled his own gorilla mask over his head.

"Where are we?", she asked. "Is this some kind of joke?" She walked to the trees and back to Finn. "Where is everyone? Are they hiding somewhere?" She looked around once more, frowning.

"Don't frown, love, your forehead might stay like that", Finn grinned, as she walked back to him again, staring at him.

"Come on. Why did you take me here?"

He just shrugged, smirking.

"Finn! You might take out your wand now and let the party appear!"

He stared at her, before he broke into a laugh.

"Alright, I am aware of how dirty that just sounded!", she muttered, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Aww, darling", he said, still giggling, walking over to her to hug her from behind. "Patience is a virtue!"

"Ah screw that", she whispered. "All my virtues or virgins were killed, remember?"

He giggled even more, snuggling his head against her shoulder.

"Finn, I really don't want to stand on this field at the night of my twenty-first birthday!"

"I know, love", he smiled against her neck, before letting go of her, taking her hand, walking with her around the square.

She watched him with her eyebrows raised.

"You know, I was told to keep you away for a while and I was also told to keep that secret to you, but you know how I'm with secrets. Well, long story, not that short, um, hmm. Where was I?", he jabbered.

"Have you already drunk without me?", she asked, watching him with a slight grin.

"Caught in the act, love", he admitted. "But I just had a few drinks of that punch this Miss Patty had standing around."

"Oh, no, the punch", Rory giggled. "But I guess you can cope with that. Because you're a pro!"

"I am, love", he slurred, kissing her a little out of focus, his lips brushing over her nose.

She pulled an arm around his waist and cuddled against him, forgetting about her disappointment about her party.

"Finn?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are we walking in circles?"

"Ah, right, well, I have to keep you occupied – and warm."

"And that's why we're walking in circles?"

"You are so sharp", he grinned and kissed her, meeting her lips this time.

She looked up at him, smiling. "So?"

"So – what?"

"Tell me about this mysterious party", Rory pleaded.

"I won't, darling", he smirked.

"Ah, damn, you haven't had enough alcohol!", she mocked, sighing slightly.

"Life's unfair, darling", he whispered and pulled her behind a tree.

"So, what now?", she muttered, looking around. "Do we have to hide for the party to come out of their hide-outs?"

"No", Finn just said, looking at her.

It took her a while to realize he was looking at her. She smiled at him uncertainly, tilting her head.

"Um, Finn?"

"Hmm?"

"You're giving me the creeps right now", she laughed.

"That's part of my charm, love", he grinned, grabbing her hand to look at the watch he had once given her. "Hmm, okay."

"Okay what?"

"It's time."

"Time?", she squealed.

"Don't get too excited, love", he said, pulling her after him. "Oh, wait," he added and pulled one of the gorilla masks he was carrying over Rory's head.

"I can still see", she said, her eyes meeting his through the eye slits of the mask.

"Oh, wrong mask", Finn said and changed their masks.

"You're messing up my hair, Finn", Rory complained, laughing as he had trouble pulling the mask over her head.

"Forgive me, love. But I can assure you, nobody will look at that."

Rory just raised an eyebrow under her mask and let Finn drag her along.

They seemed to be walking quite a while before Finn finally stopped, positioning Rory with his hands on her arms, standing right behind her.

"Alright, again, love, I didn't tell you anything", he whispered and pulled off her mask.

Rory blinked at what she saw. She was standing in front of her mother's house – which didn't look like her mother's house anymore. It looked like…

"Welcome to little Atlantic City", Finn mouthed into her ear, watching her with a smile.

"Oh my god", she whispered, her hands on her face in awe. "This is amazing!"

The house was decorated like a casino with light bulbs all around and neon signs and there were even two uniformed men standing at the front door.

Finn grabbed her hand and led her towards the door. The uniformed men straightened up at her appearance and bowed as she passed. She giggled at them and walked into the house – that wasn't a house anymore. There were even more neon signs and there were slot machines and cards lying around on various tables, with people standing in the shadows, their backs turned to Rory. There was a black jack table and a roulette table. The living room was a casino, the stairs were filled with carton figures; there was Elvis and Marilyn and some show dancers standing on every step. The corridor to the kitchen was transformed into a hall of mirrors. There were her favourite bands playing in the background, the volume of the stereo at its top.

Rory stood in the middle of the house, staring at everything with her mouth open and her eyes sparkling. Finn was by her side, grinning, kissing her cheek, before placing a little crown on her head. It was then that everyone standing around the casino decorations turned around and faced Rory, singing in one voice the Happy Birthday song.

Rory grabbed Finn's hand and listened with tears in her eyes.

After they were all done with the song, there was loud clapping and Lorelai came towards Rory, pulling her into a tight embrace. Rory hugged her mother.

"Everything as you imagined?"

"Everything as we imagined", Rory replied and faced her mother with a big smile.

"It's not Atlantic City but it's close."

"It's perfect!"

Lorelai smiled and led her daughter towards one of the tables.

"Let's play 21!", she sang, dragging her to the blackjack table – and the party began.

* * *

Rory spent one of the best evenings of her entire life, partying with her friends and family – she enjoyed to have Lane around who she hadn't seen for quite a while due to college work, she was even glad that her grandparents had come and even they seemed to have fun. She was happy about Paris's and Doyle's arrival and about the special appearance of more members of the Life and Death Brigade such as Colin, Robert, Stephanie, Rosemary and Juliet – and she even hugged Logan welcome when he showed up. 

She was just sitting at one of the roulette tables and played Finn's muse as he threw the dices over the table, kissing her whenever he won – or whenever he lost. Sipping on her drink – there were exactly 21 kinds of drinks created by her mother and Finn, Lorelai's job had been to find funny names, Finn's to pour the right alcohol together – Rory watched Finn and applauded as he rolled his lucky number. She then looked around and watched her guests, sighing happily.

"Hey, love", she heard Finn whisper into her ear.

She turned her head and smiled at him.

"Come on, I'm bored. Let's try something else", he grinned.

"Your word, Master", she laughed and dragged him along to the hall of mirrors, each mirror transforming their reflections into weird images. Rory giggled helplessly as Finn and she made a contest of who was better in making funny faces. He won – for Rory collapsed, holding her sides, laughing loudly. He laughed with her, grabbing her waist, pulling her back in front of a mirror that made them both very slim and very tall. He looked over her shoulder and grinned widely.

"Do we look silly", Rory laughed.

"Yes, we do", Finn confirmed.

Rory tilted her head, watching how her reflection did the same. Finn put his chin on her shoulder, his face suddenly very serious. Rory noticed his stern expression and pushed her lower lip forwards, mocking him by imitating him.

"Hey, Mr. Grumpy Gills", she said in a deep voice. "When life gets you down, you know what you got to do?"

Finn watched her.

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming", Rory sang and laughed. "Aww, I love that movie!"

"What movie?"

"What? You don't know Finding Nemo? That movie is so – SO – cute. You got to see that!"

"Hmm."

"We have to see it, yes, we'll see it together. That's going to be the first thing we do tomorrow!", Rory giggled – before she noticed how he still looked rather serious. "Finn, what's wrong?"

He let go of her and walked a little away, with Rory quickly catching up, grabbing his hand.

"Come on", she then said and dragged him outside the house.

"Rory, it's fine. Nothing's wrong. Come on, let's enjoy your party!"

"No! I can see that there's something bothering you. You tried to overplay it, but I still know that something is wrong. Tell me, Finn, you know you can tell me", she whispered, cupping his face as they stood on the porch.

"My parents are moving back to Australia", he then said.

"What?", she blurted out, staring at him.

"My parents are going back to Australia, my sisters are already there. And… they want me to go with them."

"What?", Rory cried, Finn's words aching in her heart like burning arrows. "And – and what are you going to do?"

"I don't know", he whispered, avoiding her stare.

"Stay here, you still got your grandparents here! And me", she added, barely audible.

"I know, Rory", he replied and kissed her gently, wiping her silent tears away with his thumb. "But it's my family. And my grandparents consider to move to Australia as well, they say they're sick of the American Way of Life – so I would be the only one in this tremendously huge country. I could even graduate over there. There is nothing keeping me here…"

"But what about me? I am with you!", Rory cried, her voice high-pitched.

"I know, Rory, and I am grateful you are", he said, looking down. "But I don't think we'll be together forever…"

That caused Rory's jaw to drop, her heart to miss a beat and her mind to completely loose it.

"Are you breaking up with me?", she whined, letting go of him in shock.

"No!", he replied, apparently surprised about her shock. "I would never dare to break up with you! I love you, Rory, I want to be with you!"

"Then why are you saying these things?", Rory yelled.

"Because I don't deserve you!"

"What?" Rory's voice broke as she stared at him in utter disbelief.

"You deserve someone better than me, Rory."

"Are you serious?"

"You know, these last months were the greatest of my entirely life. I had so much fun with you, I enjoyed every minute we spent together. You are an amazing girlfriend! But –"

"But?"

"But I don't think I'm the best boyfriend…"

She stared at him with her mouth open, before she leapt at him, hitting his chest with her fists, crying agitatedly. He pulled her arms around her, holding her close, keeping her from hitting him.

"I am sorry, Rory…"

"You are such a coward", he heard her whisper. "I cannot believe this! I cannot believe you!"

He let go of her and stared down at her.

Her face was red from crying and yelling, but when she spoke, there was ice streaming down Finn's back.

"All of a sudden there is a problem in the perfect world and what do you do? Bolt. Run away from it, hide it, forget it. I cannot believe this is coming from you, Finn. Who are you? I thought you were Finn, the infamous Finn, the one that makes me laugh, that holds me when I'm sad, that I can talk to whenever I want, the one that's not afraid of anything. I thought you were perfect. Apparently, you're not. Now, just now, you butt out and leave me standing here all alone. The last months you killed all the doubts I had in you before. You were the perfect boyfriend, you've become so much more than the perfect boyfriend, you are my lover, my best friend, you were my dirty little secret, you are everything I always wanted. I never met someone like you, Finn. These last months I learned so much from you. The most important thing I learned, was that I need you. I need you, Finn, do not butt out right now. Do not leave me…"

He watched her frowning, a substantial melancholy welling up behind his eyes.

"Please don't say I deserve better, Finn", she continued, her voice almost breaking. "I don't deserve better, I deserve you. I want to deserve you! I want you!"

He lowered his head, unable to reply anything.

"Don't go, stay with me. If you really want to be with me, don't go back to Australia!", she said with finality, yet suddenly afraid that he'd told her she deserved better because he really wanted to back out of this relationship, seeing his moving back to his home-country as a good chance and excuse to leave her.

But it was then that Finn raised his head and met Rory's gaze. His eyes were serious, yet she imagined to see something sparkle behind his sincerity. He took a step towards her and grabbed her hand, before he went down on one knee, looking up at her – with Rory's heart already missing a beat.

"Rory, will you marry me?"

She stared at him with her mouth open, her head turning numb immediately. "What?"

"Will you "

"Yes, I heard you, but – what?", she blurted out, her voice nothing but a whisper.

"It's the only way I can be sure that you really want me to stay."

"What? I – I, yes, I want you to stay. But marriage? Aren't we a little too young? I – I just turned 21 –"

"I know, love, I'm not that much older myself!"

"But why marriage?"

"Why not?"

"I'm too young to marry!"

"Last year, you were too young to drink Tequila either", he smirked. "Life is about taking risks, darling. About adventures. We survived our first one – why not at least try to do another?"

"Marriage as adventure? Finn, getting married is a big deal! We can't just get married because we ran out of Tequila or something."

"I'm not saying that, love – besides, I would find other alternatives if we would run out of Tequila – so what I am saying is, that we should try it. You said so yourself, you want me – and I can say I want you. I love you, Rory, and these last months, this last year, showed me that I can be a commitment-guy, you taught me and I must say, I like it. As long as you are the one I commit myself to. I want to be with you – why not for the rest of my life?"

"Because the rest of your life is an awfully long time! What if we change our minds in the middle of that?"

"Then we change our minds – knowing that the time we spent together had been the best ever."

"You make this sound so easy…", she whispered down to him.

"You made commitment sound so easy too."

"We can do this, right?"

"Yes, we can, love."

"Oh my god", Rory hissed. "We're… we are…"

"Getting married?", Finn asked, looking up at her with a smile.

Rory broke into a tearful smile. "Yes! Yes, we are!"

Finn grinned and got up, pulling her into a tight embrace. She replied his hug even tighter, crying happily into his shoulder.

"Oh my god, I have to tell Mom! And Lane and –", Rory let go of him, walking towards the front door.

"Rory?"

"Hmm?", she stopped and turned around.

"Aren't you forgetting something?", he asked with a grin.

She laughed and ran back to him, leaping at him, pulling her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply. He held her tightly, replying the kiss hungrily. She then kissed his nose chuckling, before leaning back a little, watching him, her legs wrapped around his waist.

"I'm getting married", she whispered, locking eyes with him.

"Me too", he replied, smirking.

"This is going to be fun", she grinned and kissed him again, before she jumped to her feet again, grabbing his hand and pulling him inside the house after her.

The party was still going on wildly, the blackjack and roulette tables completely packed, the free space between all the activities used as dance floor occupied with laughing couples, the hall of mirrors filled with laughter, Rory's favourite music still ringing through the rooms. As they passed Logan and Colin standing at one of the blackjack tables, they caused them to exchange knowing glances, with the girls of the Life and Death Brigade holding their mouths in order to keep their screams low.

When Rory and Finn approached Lorelai and Luke dancing between the tables, Rory's mother just had to shoot a glance at her daughter, seeing both hers and Finn's enormous smiles, before she squealed loudly, letting go of Luke and running towards her daughter, pulling her into a bone-breaking hug.

"Is it true?", she called over the music, looking from Rory to Finn, who nodded with a huge smile. "OH MY GOD!", Lorelai squealed and hugged Rory again, pulling Finn towards them.

Lane joined them, watching Rory for only a moment, before another squeal echoed through the room.

"What's going on?", Luke asked, observing the scene frowning.

Lorelai turned to him. "Rory, my Rory, is getting married – of course before me, so typical!", she laughed and smiled at her daughter.

"Married?", Luke asked, looking very surprised.

"Yes", Finn replied. "This kind lady agreed to marry me!", he said and pulled an arm around Rory, meeting her smiling gaze.

"But why?"

"Well, why not?", Lorelai said, looking at Luke challenging.

"Life is about taking risks, Luke", Rory said, kissing Finn's cheek.

"Australia can more than wait", Finn grinned and leant in closer to kiss Rory more passionately. She pulled her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.

Clapping sounds parted them again and they saw how Logan and Colin approached them with a large cake, decorated with both 21 candles and a wedding couple on top. Rory laughed at the sight of it and grabbed Finn's hand for support.

"Congratulations, buddy", Logan said and clapped Finn's back.

"You finally did it!", Colin joined them.

"Finally?", Rory asked in surprise.

"Yes, he has been bugging me for ages, always asking himself if you would say yes. Yet I never thought he would actually do it!", Colin said, grinning at Finn.

Rory looked up at Finn with a big smirk playing around her lips. "You always keep surprising me", she whispered.

"That's another part of my charm, love", he grinned.

While everyone gathered around them, armed with a glass of pink champagne, Rory looked into Finn's eyes, squeezing his hand slightly.

"I can't believe I'm marrying my dirty little secret!"

"That's just how it goes, darling", Finn replied, winking at her.

* * *

**The End**

* * *

_**A/N:** Oh my god, it's done - and I'm smiling and crying at the same time. I finished this story, it's unbelievable... less than two weeks ago I started it and now, it's over. Done. Finished._

_The major thank you goes to everyone who read and reviewed this fanfic, I love you guys, you were the ones that kept me writing, who I wanted to please and entertain. I hope you had a wonderful time reading this - I definitely had writing it! **THANK YOU** again!_

_So, the last chapter, what do you think? It took me a while longer because I really thought hard about how I wanted it to end... I really wanted to end it and not made it possible to write six or 100 other parts of it. It ended how it ended with this major BANG and guess what, there'll be a sequel, I got many ideas and there'll be more Rory and Finn for everyone who likes them! I promise!_

_Right now, I'm taking a little break - leaving you with this last chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.  
Thank you everyone. Writing this was a wonderful thing to do!_

_**Disclaimer**: GG belong to ASP, titles to AAR, Finding Nemo to Andrew Stanton, Final Destination to Jeffrey Reddick._


End file.
